Universität Paderborn
Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) is an additive manufacturing (AM) process enabling the fabrication of metallic parts with nearly unlimited geometry shapes by melting metal powder layer by layer. This allows the production of functionally graded materials (FGMs) with application-adapted properties and increased efficiency supported by a wide range of LPBF processable materials. Titanium (Ti) alloys are commonly used in various industries such as aerospace and particularly in biomedical use cases due to their outstanding mechanical properties accompanied by excellent corrosion behaviour and biocompatibility. The (α+β) phase titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is the most widely used and promising alloy for load-bearing implants in dental or orthopaedic surgery with the main disadvantage of high Young´s modulus (110 GPa) compared to the natural tissue (30 GPa). This mismatch leads to stress shielding, bone density reduction, and implant loosening. Furthermore, previous studies showed a decrease in biocompatibility due to the toxic alloying elements aluminium (Al) and vanadium (V). Consequently, newly developed biocompatible (α+β) and (β) phase titanium alloys such as Ti6-Al-7Nb (Ti67) and Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn (Ti2448) consisting of partially or completely non-toxic elements such as niobium (Nb), zirconium (Zr) and Tin (Sn) are addressed. In addition, Ti2448 has a bone-like Young´s modulus between 42 GPa and 55 GPa. The processing of the two alloys with a high relative density of > 99.95% has already been demonstrated. Hence, the scope of this contribution is to improve the manufacturability of FGMs with tailored mechanical properties in load-bearing implants consisting of the (α+β) phased Ti67 alloy and the (β) phased Ti2448 alloy. Multi-material samples of the two investigated alloys were processed by LPBF and subjected to specific heat treatments. Subsequently, the influence on the microstructure, in particular in the graded bonding zone of the samples, was analyzed and correlated with the resulting mechanical properties.
Abstract
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