Novel Ti-base superelastic alloys with large recovery strain and excellent biocompatibility

In this study, a new Ti–Zr–Nb–Sn alloy system was developed as Ni-free biomedical superelastic alloys with a large recovery strain and excellent biocompatibility. Ti–18Zr–(9–16)Nb–(0–4)Sn alloys were prepared by an Ar arc melting method and the effect of composition on the crystal structure and superelastic properties was investigated. A large superelastic recovery strain of 6.0% was observed in Ti–18Zr–12.5Nb–2Sn, Ti–18Zr–11Nb–3Sn, and Ti–18Zr–9.5Nb–4Sn alloys subjected to cold-rolling and solution treatment. XRD results showed that the large recovery strain of Sn-added alloys is due to a combination effect of a large transformation strain and a strong recrystallization texture. The Ti–18Zr–11Nb–3Sn alloy exhibited excellent cyclic stability with an extremely narrow stress hysteresis about 20 MPa. Cytocompatibility was also examined using three types of cell lines, murine fibroblast L929, human osteosarcoma SaOS-2, and human umbilical vein endothelial cell HUVEC and the results showed that the Ti–18Zr–11Nb–3Sn alloy exhibited larger cell covering ratios when compared with those of the Ti–50.5Ni alloy for all kinds of cells.

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