Edith Cowan University

School of Engineering

Selective Laser Melting of a Biomedical Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn Alloy

Lai-Chang Zhang and Tim B. Sercombe Table 2. Comparison of the tensile properties for
the Ti2448 alloys manufactured by Selective Laser The strength and stiffness are independent of the scan
Introduction Melting and by conventional processing methods. speed, however, the ductility is closely linked to the
Laser power: 200 W; laser scan speed: 550 mm/s, Stiffness E, yield density and therefore to the scan speed.
Table 1. Comparison of the mechanical properties
of bones and titanium implant materials.
 Current titanium implants, i.e. CP-Ti (α type) and α+ strength σ0.2, ultimate tensile strength σUTS, and elongation δ. ◄ Compared with the hot-rolled or hot-forged material,
Stiffness Tensile Strength % Elongation type Ti alloys, have a stiffness ~10 times that of bone, Processing methods E (GPa) σ0.2 (MPa) σUTS (MPa) δ (%) the SLM Ti2448 has a similar stiffness and ductility,
Cortical Bone
(GPa)
17-24
(MPa)
90-130
at break
1-3
which causes stress shielding in the bone and leads Selective Laser Melting 53  1 563  38 665  18 13.8  4.1 but lower strength.
CP-Titanium and α+β type Titanium Alloys to bone resorption. Hot rolling^ 46 700 830 15.0
CP-Ti (Grade 4) or 110 760 15%
ASTM F67 30 % Cold
Worked
 The new generation  type Ti alloys have much lower Hot forging* 55 570 755 13.0
^ data from S.Q. Zhang, S.J. Li, M.T. Jia, Y.L. Hao, R. Yang, Scripta Mater. 60 (2009) 733.
Ti-6Al-4V or ASTM 114 900 14% stiffness. * data from S.J. Li, T.C. Cui, Y.L. Hao, R. Yang, Acta Biomater. 4 (2008) 305.
F136 annealed
Low-modulus β Ti alloys
Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr 80 910 13
 Introducing porosity can further reduce stiffness, but
(TNTZ) optimisation of the porous structure is needed. ▼ An acetabular (hip) cup complete with complex outer scaffold has been manufactured.
Ti-36Nb-2Ta-3Zr-0.3O 55-75 1000-1200 10-15
(Gum Metal)
 Complex porous structure designs can only be The complex, fine-scaled scaffold structure on its outer surface is aimed at improving
Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn
(Ti2448)
42-55 800-1200 13-15
realised by Selective Laser Melting (SLM). osseointegration and is an example of the geometric complexity that is possible with SLM.
The acetabular cup design courtesy of Rob Day, Royal Perth Hospital.

Aims
• Design of optimised scaffold structures for titanium implants.
• Manufacture of biomedical  type Ti2448 alloys by selective laser melting.
• Study of the mechanical behaviour of SLM-produced  type Ti2448 alloys. 70%
porosity
Results 80% porosity

 Figure 1. Density and Vickers hardness of the SLM 50% porosity

samples.
 Design and manufacture of the
• An overall trend is evident of the increasing density with
decreasing scan speed for speeds up to ~600 mm/s, after scaffolds with different porosity
which the density tends to plateau at >99%. levels. The scaffolds were designed
by topological optimisation.
• There is a strong correlation between Vickers hardness and
density.
Table 3. Comparison of the stiffness for the SLM-
produced Ti2448 alloys and bone as well as Ti-6Al-
4V implant.
Laser speed 550mm/s, >99% dense Laser speed 650mm/s, ~98.5% dense Laser speed 800mm/s, ~95% dense ► The stiffness of the Ti2448 Materials Stiffness (GPa)
scaffolds can be tailored to Cortical Bone 17-24
Laser scan track Ti-6Al-4V or ASTM F136 annealed 114
Unmelted match that of bone by altering
100% solid 53
particles the level of porosity. 30% porosity 30
Unmelted Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn alloy
particles manufactured by 50% porosity 15
Pore Selective Laser Melting 70% porosity 7
s 80% porosity 4

Summary
Figure 2. Optical microstructures of the parts manufactured at different laser scan speeds. • We have shown, for the first time, that components from a novel biomedical beta Ti-24Nb-4Zr-8Sn alloy
 In the near fully dense  At 650 mm/s, unmelted  In the lowest dense sample, can be manufactured using Selective Laser Melting.
sample, the powders are particles are evident due to the number of unmelted • The density and microhardness generally increase with decreasing laser scan speed, which corresponds
completely melted. insufficient laser energy. particles has increased and to a higher laser energy density. Near full density parts (>99%) have been obtained at a laser power of
porosity is apparent. 200 W and a scan speed range of 300 − 600 mm/s.
• Compared with material prepared by conventional processing routes, SLM processing produces samples
Acknowledgements with similar mechanical properties.
Dr Tony Roberts, A/Prof Joe Grotowski and Dr Vivien Challis at The University of Queensland for their scaffolds; Prof Jürgen Eckert and Dr Denis • A demonstration acetabular cup complete with complex outer scaffold has been manufactured.
Klemm at the IFW Dresden for the access to SLM equipment; Prof Yulin Hao at Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences for the
supply of Ti2448 alloy. • Scaffold structures have been designed using topology optimisation and produced using SLM; their
The work was supported by the Australian Research Council (DP0878785 and DP110101653) and stiffness can be tailored to match that of bone by altering the level of porosity.
The University of Western Australia through a Research Collaboration Award.

E-mail: [email protected] More information can be obtained from : L.C. Zhang et al., Scripta Mater. 65 (2011) 21-24, V.J. Challis et al and Adv. Eng. Mater. 12 (2010) 1106-1110.