The Influence of Copper Content on the Elastic Modulus and Antibacterial Properties of Ti-13Nb-13Zr-<i>x</i>Cu Alloy
Xinru Mao,
Anqi Shi,
Renxian Wang,
Jingjun Nie,
Gaowu Qin,
Dafu Chen,
Erlin Zhang
Affiliations
Xinru Mao
Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Education Ministry of China, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Anqi Shi
Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Education Ministry of China, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Renxian Wang
Laboratory of Bone Tissue Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Research Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035, China
Jingjun Nie
Laboratory of Bone Tissue Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Research Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035, China
Gaowu Qin
Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Education Ministry of China, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Dafu Chen
Laboratory of Bone Tissue Engineering, Beijing Laboratory of Biomedical Materials, Beijing Research Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035, China
Erlin Zhang
Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Education Ministry of China, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China
Device-related infection or inflammatory and stress shield are still the main problems faced by titanium alloy implants for long-term implantation application; therefore, it is of great significance to design an alloy with low elastic modulus and good antibacterial properties as well as good biocompatibility. In this paper, Ti-13Nb-13Zr-xCu(x = 3, 7 wt.%) alloys were designed and prepared to reveal the influence of Cu content on the elastic modulus and antibacterial property. X-ray diffractometer, metallographic microscope, scanning electron microscope, and transmission electron microscope were used to study the phase transformation, microstructure, mechanical properties, antibacterial properties, and cytotoxicity of the alloys. The experimental results have demonstrated that the antibacterial performance and the elastic modulus were significantly improved but the corrosion resistance deteriorated with the increase of the copper content. Ti-13Nb-13Zr-3Cu with a low modulus of 73 GPa and an antibacterial rate of over 90% against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) exhibited great potential as a candidate for implant titanium in the future.
