Improvement in fatigue characteristics of newly developed beta type titanium alloy for biomedical applications by thermo-mechanical treatments

Tensile and plain fatigue properties of β type titanium alloy, Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr, which underwent various thermo-mechanical treatments, were investigated in order to judge its potential for biomedical applications. Microstructures of Ti-29Nb-13Ta-4.6Zr (TNTZ) aged directly at 723 K for 259.2 ks after cold rolling and TNTZ aged at 723 K for 259.2 ks after solution treatment are composed of precipitated α phase in β phase. While, microstructures of TNTZ aged directly at 598 K and 673 K for 259.2 ks after cold rolling and aged at 598 K and 673 K for 259.2 ks after solution treatment are composed of precipitated ω phase, and precipitated α and ω phases in β phase, respectively. Tensile strength of aged TNTZ after solution treatment and aged TNTZ after cold rolling decreases with increasing aging temperature although the elongation shows the reverse trend. TNTZ composed of ω phase or ω and α phases in β phase shows the tensile strength of around 1000 MPa or more. Young's moduli of aged TNTZ after solution treatment and aged TNTZ after cold rolling decrease with increasing aging temperature. TNTZ conducted with solution treatment has the lowest Young's modulus of around 60 GPa. Fatigue strengths of aged TNTZ after solution treatment and aged TNTZ after cold rolling increase with increasing aging temperature. In particular, TNTZ aged directly at 723 K after cold rolling shows the greatest fatigue strength in both low cycle fatigue life and high cycle fatigue life regions, and the fatigue limit, which is around 770 MPa, is nearly equal to that of hot-rolled Ti-6Al-4V ELI conducted with aging, which is one of representative α + β type titanium alloys for biomedical applications.