Effects of Ta content on Young's modulus and tensile properties of binary Ti-Ta alloys for biomedical applications

The effects of Ta content on the microstructures, dynamic Young's modulus and tensile properties of the quenched Ti-Ta alloys were investigated for biomedical applications. The microstructures were examined using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results indicate that the microstructures of the quenched binary Ti-Ta alloys are sensitive to Ta content. The Ti-Ta alloys exhibit lamellar HCP martensite (alpha') structure at a Ta content below 20%, needle-like orthorhombic martensite (alpha) structure at a Ta content between 30-50%. metastable beta + alpha structure at a Ta content of 60%, and single metastable structure at a Ta content above 60%. The dynamic Young's modulus and tensile properties of the binary Ti-Ta alloys depend strongly on Ta content. Ti-30% Ta and 70% Ta alloys have much lower modulus and a good combination of high strength and low modulus among all the studied Ii-Ta alloys. They have the great potential to become new candidates for biomedical applications. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.