Selective laser melting of titanium alloy with 50 wt% tantalum: Microstructure and mechanical properties

In this study, selective laser melting (SLM) was used to fabricate samples of titanium-tantalum (TiTa) alloy comprising 50 wt% of each element. Based on observation from scanning electron microscopy, asfabricated samples comprised of randomly dispersed pure tantalum particles in a TiTa matrix. The microstructure exhibited equiaxed grains of beta titanium and tantalum in random orientations, determined by combination of field emission scanning electron microscopy, electron back scatter diffraction and X-ray diffraction. The resulting samples have ultimate tensile strength of 924.64 +/- 9.06 MPa and elastic modulus of 75.77 +/- 4.04 GPa. The TiTa alloy produced can be a potential material for biomedical applications due to its high strength to modulus ratio, as compared to Ti6Al4V and commercially pure titanium. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.