Titanium-ceramic nanocomposites fabricated by the mechanical alloying process

Wide use of titanium and its alloys as biomaterials stems from their low elastic moduli, good fatigue strength and better corrosion resistance compared to other metals and alloys used in medicine. However, they have poor tribological properties and a release of titanium alloy elements into surrounding tissues can cause eventual inflammation, failure and removal of an implant. For this reason, there is a great need for creating composite materials using ceramic particles to reinforce titanium which would give the possibility of optimizing mechanical and biological properties. In the present work Ti hydroxyapatite (HA, 3, 10 vol. %) and Ti-SiO2 (3, 10 vol. %) nanocomposites were fabricated by a combination of mechanical alloying (MA) and sintering processes. Mechanical properties and corrosion resistance of these composites were investigated by the Vicker hardness measurement and in vitro studies. The experimental results show that Ti-10 vol. % HA and Ti-10 vol. % SiO2 nanocomposites have good corrosion resistance (Ic = 1.1×10-6, Ec = -0.48; Ic = 9.23×10-7, Ec = -0.45, respectively) in comparison with microcrystalline titanium (Ic = 2.7×10-5, Ec = -0.47). Vickers' microhardness of the prepared nanocomposites is a few times higher than that of microcrystalline titanium. In conclusion, titanium ceramic nanocomposite is a suitable material for hard tissue replacement from the point of view of both mechanical and corrosion properties.