K. L. Simmons, E. A. Nyberg, K. S. Weil, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA
Ti-6Al-4V ELI has been widely used as an orthopedic implant material because it offers an excellent combination of biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, and good mechanical properties. Recently however, a number of researchers have focused on alternative titanium alloys, specifically those that are free of aluminum and vanadium because of the toxicity and Alzheimer’s concerns with these elements. An additional consideration is in developing a titanium alloy with a modulus of elasticity comparable to that of natural bone. From the standpoint of alloy design, solid state processing offers greater compositional flexibility than traditional melt-based approaches. We will present results from our work on a novel powder injection molding technique that not only affords a clean, low-cost method of fabricating titanium components, but also offers a means of producing novel alloy compositions in-situ during part manufacture.