Superelastic properties of biomedical (Ti–Zr)–Mo–Sn alloys

• A new class of Ti–50Zr base shape memory and superelastic alloys was developed.
• A (Ti–Zr)–1.5Mo–3Sn alloy exhibited excellent superelastic properties.
• A large superelastic recovery strain of 7% was achieved through texture control.

A new class of Ti–50Zr base biomedical superelastic alloys was developed in this study. The (Ti–Zr)–Mo–Sn alloys exhibited a shape memory effect and superelastic property by adjusting Mo and Sn contents. The (Ti–Zr)–1.5Mo–3Sn alloy revealed the most stable superelasticity among (Ti–Zr)–(1–2)Mo–(2–4)Sn alloys. The superelastic recovery strain showed a strong dependence on heat treatment temperature after cold working in the (Ti–Zr)–1.5Mo–3Sn alloy. The superelastic recovery strain increased as the heat treatment temperature increased although the critical stress for slip decreased. The (Ti–Zr)–1.5Mo–3Sn alloy heat treated at 1073 K exhibited excellent superelastic properties with a large recovery strain as large as 7% which is due to the strong {001}β<110>β recrystallization texture.