Microstructure and mechanical properties of a newly developed low Young's modulus Ti-15Zr-5Cr-2Al biomedical alloy

•By introducing 2% Al, the ω phase was suppressed in as-cast and water quenched Ti-15Zr-5Cr-2Al alloy.•Water quenched alloy exhibited low Young's modulus (58 GPa), high compressive strength and high ductility.•All the studied conditions showed higher elastic energy than c.p. Ti.•As-cast and water quenched alloys are promising candidate material for biomedical applications.

The Ti-15Zr-5Cr-2Al alloy has been developed and various heat treatments have been investigated to develop new biomedical materials. It is found that the heat treatment conditions strongly affect the phase constitutions and mechanical properties. The as-cast specimen is comprised of β phase and a small fraction of α phase, which is attributed to the suppression of ω phase caused by adding Al. A high yield strength of 1148 ± 36 MPa and moderate Young's modulus of 96 ± 3 GPa are obtained in the as-cast specimen. Besides the β phase and α phase, ω phase is also detected in the air cooled and liquid nitrogen quenched specimens, which increases the Young's modulus and lowers the ductility. In contrast, only β phase is detected after ice water quenching. The ice water quenched specimen exhibits a good combination of mechanical properties with a high microhardness of 302 ± 10 HV, a large plastic strain of 23 ± 2%, a low Young's modulus of 58 ± 4 GPa, a moderate yield strength of 625 ± 32 MPa and a high compressive strength of 1880 ± 59 MPa. Moreover, the elastic energies of the ice water quenched specimen (3.22 MJ/m3) and as-cast specimen (6.86 MJ/m3) are higher than that of c.p. Ti (1.25 MJ/m3). These results demonstrate that as-cast and ice water quenched Ti-15Zr-5Cr-2Al alloys with a superior combination of mechanical properties are potential materials for biomedical applications.

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