ROTARY SWAGING OF Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-O ALLOY: A PROMISING NEW BIOMATERIAL

A new developed beta titanium alloy (Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr-O) was prepared and intended to be use as a new implant material. This alloy contains only biocompatible elements and fulfils strength requirements already in cast condition. However, large grain size and porosity negatively limit the fatigue performance for utilization in the desired application. The main task is to specify and optimize the process of implant manufacturing, which includes advanced methods of metal forming. Cold rotary swaging of this material with different degrees of deformation (40-80%) was successfully performed and recrystallization annealing of the material was studied for several temperatures (800-1200 degrees C) and times (2-15min). For this purpose, quenching dilatometer (RITA Linseis) with inductive heating was used. The microstructure significantly changes with annealing temperature. As expected annealing of swaged material leads to significant grain refinement.