Comparison of Mechanical and Antibacterial Properties of TiO2/Ag Ceramics and Ti6Al4V-TiO2/Ag Composite Materials Using Combined SLM-SPS Techniques

In present work, the combination of spark plasma sintering (SPS) and selective laser melting (SLM) techniques was introduced to produce composite materials where silver-doped titania (TiO2) ceramics were reinforced with ordered lattice structures of titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. The objective was to create bulk materials with an ordered hierarchical design that were expected to exhibit improved mechanical properties along with an antibacterial effect. The prepared composite materials were evaluated for structural integrity and mechanical properties as well as for antibacterial activity towards Escherichiacoli. The developed titanium-silver/titania hybrids showed increased damage tolerance and ultimate strength when compared to ceramics without metal reinforcement. However, compared with titania/silver ceramics alone that exhibited significant antibacterial effect, titanium-reinforced ceramics showed significantly reduced antibacterial effect. Thus, to obtain antibacterial materials with increased strength, the composition of metal should either be modified, or covered with antibacterial ceramics. Our results indicated that the used method is a feasible route for adding ceramic reinforcement to 3D printed metal alloys.