Effect of Nb addition on high-temperature oxidation behavior, oxide layer structure, and its exfoliation resistance of Ti-Nb Alloys

Abstract

The authors proposed an oxide coating on Ti alloys for the dental abutment tooth, and they had reported that Ti–29Nb–13Ta–4.6Zr (TNTZ) alloy forms a dense oxide layer by high-temperature oxidation. On the other hand, CP Ti forms a multilayered oxide consisted of rutile monolayers and the void layer. This morphological change by alloying is supposed to be mainly caused by Nb addition in Ti since the dense oxide layer of TNTZ mainly consists of rutile TiO2 and TiNb2O7. Therefore, in this study, oxidation behaviors of various range of Nb content of Ti-xNb alloys (x = 1 ~ 32 mol%) were investigated, and exfoliation resistance was evaluated. And in this paper, the oxide/metal interfacial microstructure of oxidized CP Ti, TNTZ alloy, and Ti-Nb alloy was studied by a transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and by a scanning transmission electron microscopy with an electron dispersive spectroscopy (STEM-EDS). The cross-sectional observations suggested that the substrate was gradually oxidized during heat treatment, and nucleation and grain growth of TiO2 and TiNb2O7 proceed at the metal/oxide interface. Consequently, the gradual oxidation process in TNTZ and Ti-Nb alloys could lead to its continuous interfacial microstructure and dense oxide structure, which can achieve high exfoliation resistance.