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The β titanium alloys are key materials in lightweight and biomedical applications, due to the combination of excellent biocompatibility and mechanical properties. However, the Binder-based Powder Technologies such as Metal-Injection-Molding (MIM), Binder-Jetting and Fused-Filament-Fabrication, normally introduce three major processing-related defects in the as-sintered Ti-parts: (i) residual porosity, (ii) high impurity level and (iii) coarse-grained structure. The previous studies revealed that these processing defects invariably tend to be even more severe in β titanium alloys than in α/β Ti-6Al-4V alloy, all fabricated by powder metallurgical route. In this work, these processing defects and their likely origins in MIM β titanium alloys are analysed. Furthermore, the influence of these defects on damage tolerance and fracture mechanisms of MIM β titanium alloys under either static or dynamic loading is investigated. Based on the studies, strategic technical improvements in the processing to improve the reliability of MIM β titanium alloys products are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several material parameters affect degradation characteristics of Mg and its alloys under physiological conditions. Porous Mg materials are interesting for their simultaneous degradation and drug delivery capabilities. However, an increase in pore surface area is detrimental to both degradation resistance and subsequent mechanical properties. The present work aims at determining the threshold porosity value in Mg–0.6Ca specimens produced by powder metallurgy (PM) below which low degradation rates persist with acceptable mechanical properties. Seven different porous Mg–0.6Ca specimens containing both closed and open pore structures were fabricated with porosities ranging from 3% to 21%. Degradation profiles were obtained via a semi static immersion test over 16 days under physiological conditions using Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium with Glutamax and 10% fetal bovine serum as supplements. The results are related to morphological pore parameters like pore size distribution, pore interconnectivity and pore curvatures that were quantified using an ex situ µCT analysis. In general, with decreasing porosity a decrease in pore interconnectivity is seen followed by rounding of the pores. Low degradation rates (MDR < 0.3 mm/year) are observed in specimens until 10% porosity, however, the upper bound for reproducible degradation is observed to be in specimens until 12% porosity. This porosity level also marks the transition from closed to open pore nature with a simultaneous change in pore interconnectivity from less than 10% to greater than 95%, below and above this porosity level, respectively. The tensile strength and elongation to failure recorded for specimens with 10% porosity were 70 MPa and 2%, respectively displaying positive traits of both homogenous degradation and mechanical properties. The results suggest that high pore interconnectivity is the dominant factor controlling degradation and mechanical properties in porous Mg-0.6Ca specimens. The results also indicate a good sintering response of Mg-0.6Ca specimens providing further material development towards biomaterial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of Al variations in the sintering behavior and creep resistance is investigated in powder‐metallurgy‐processed titanium aluminides based on the alloy TNB‐V5 (Ti‐45Al‐5Nb‐0.2B‐0.2C at%). Two compositions are prepared with Al‐contents of 43 and 47 at%, varying Al‐content by ±2 at% relative to the reference material TNB‐V5. Specimen preparation is conducted by metal injection molding using feedstock prepared with mixtures of prealloyed and elemental powders. The sinterability of alloys with addition of elemental powders decreases in comparison to the reference material, according to dilatometry experiments. However, in experiments with the sintering furnace, it is possible to obtain porosity with values of ≈10% by sintering at 1450 °C, whereas sintering at 1500 °C decreases the porosity to less than 1% in case of 43 at% and 45 at% of Al. Even though the alloy containing 47 at% Al shows higher porosity of about 7%, the creep resistance is superior to 43 at% Al, which can be attributed to a larger colony size. In tensile tests at room temperature, the effect of porosity is very detrimental leading to significantly reduced tensile strength and total elongation. Nevertheless, in compressive creep tests, the effect of porosity is secondary to colony size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interfacial self-diffusion coefficients of pure Titanium are determined using sinter simulation. Depicting surface and grain boundary and volume diffusion the evolution of sinter necks in the first sinter stage is simulated. In an optimization procedure, the deviations from experimentally determined data are minimized. Since the model used is not limited to isothermal sintering, experimental effort is low. Spherical powder is sintered using different temperature profiles and the respective final state is evaluated. Since the coefficients found could also be useful for more versatile model approaches, a comparative calculation with the results of a recently published phase field model is discussed. Unlabelled Image [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sintering behavior of metal injection molded titanium aluminide alloys, their microstructure formation and resulting mechanical properties were investigated. As reference material, the alloy Ti-45Al-5Nb-0.2B-0.2C at.% (TNB-V5) was selected. Additionally, two other variations with Mo and Mo + Si additions were prepared: Ti-45Al-3Nb-1Mo-0.2B-0.2C at.% and Ti-45Al-3Nb-1Mo-1Si-0.2B-0.2C at.%. The results indicate that the optimum sintering temperature was slightly above the solidus line. With proper sintering parameters, very low porosities (<0.5%) and fine microstructures with a colony size <85 µm could be achieved. Considering the sintering temperatures applied, the phase transformations upon cooling could be described as L + β → β → α + β → α → α + γ → α + γ, which was in agreement with the microstructures observed. The effects of Mo and Si were opposite regarding the sintering behavior. Mo addition led to an increase in the optimum sintering temperature, whereas Si caused a significant decrease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current research has highlighted that magnesium and its alloys as biodegradable material are highly suitable for biomedical applications. The new material fully degrades into nontoxic elements and offers material properties matching those of human bone tissue. As biomedical implants are rather small and complex in shape, the metal injection molding (MIM) technique seems to be well suited for the near net shape mass production of such parts. Furthermore, MIM of Mg-alloys is of high interest in further technical fields. This study focusses on the performance of MIM-processing of magnesium alloy powders. It includes Mg-specific development of powder blending, feedstock preparation, injection molding, solvent and thermal debinding and final sintering. Even though Mg is a highly oxygen-affine material forming a stable oxide layer on each particle surface, the material can be sintered to nearly dense parts, providing mechanical properties matching those of as cast material. An ultimate tensile strength of 142 MPa, yield strength of 67 MPa, elastic modulus of 40 GPa and 8% elongation at fracture could be achieved using novel organic polymer binders for the feedstock preparation. Thus, first implant demonstrator parts could be successfully produced by the MIM technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fused filament fabrication (FFF) is a new procedure for the production of plastic parts, particularly if the parts have a complex geometry and are only needed in a limited quantity, e.g., in specific medical applications. In addition to the production of parts which are purely composed of polymers, fused filament fabrication can be successfully applied for the preparation of green bodies for sintering of metallic implant materials in medical applications. In this case, highly filled polymer–metal feedstocks, which contain a variety of polymeric components, are used. In this study, we focus on various polymer-metal feedstocks, investigate the rheological properties of these materials, and relate them to our results of FFF experiments. Small amplitudes of shear oscillations reveal that the linear range of the polymer–metal feedstocks under investigation is very small, which is caused by elastic and viscous interactions between the metallic particles. These interactions strongly influence or even dominate the flow properties of the feedstock depending on the applied shear stress. The magnitude of the complex viscosity strongly increases with decreasing angular frequency, which indicates the existence of an apparent yield stress. The viscosity increase caused by the high powder loading needed for sintering limits the maximum printing velocity and the minimum layer height. The apparent yield stress hinders the formation of smooth surfaces in the FFF process and slows down the welding of deposited layers. The influence of composition on the processing parameters (suitable temperature range) and part properties (e.g., surface roughness) is discussed on the basis of rheological data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The introduction of magnesium into the metal injection molding (MIM) process has shown that sintering results are drastically influenced by the selection of the backbone polymer of the binder system. The polymer is needed to ensure the shape stability after injection molding until the sintering process begins. Using polyethylene (PE) based polymers result in a strong sintering inhibiting effect while polypropylene (PP) based polymers do not show such a negative influence on the sintering of the magnesium powder. This work displays a systematic investigation why these two polyolefins show such a strong difference when used as backbone polymers for MIM of magnesium. According to the literature, PE decomposes mainly into 1‐alkenes and n‐alkanes while PP decomposes into branched iso‐alkenes and iso‐alkanes. The different thermal decomposition products of PE react with magnesium forming metastable carbides that decompose into carbon. Carbon can act as a barrier between neighboring powder particles inhibiting the sintering process. The decomposition products of PP do not react in the same extent leading to the fact that sintering is still possible. The negative effect of the carbon can be reversed when hydrogen is used as a sintering atmosphere resulting in improved sintering even when PE is used. Within this work, fundamental differences in the debinding behavior between PE‐ and PP‐based binders in the Mg‐MIM process leading to completely different sintering activity is detected and understood. PE in contrast to PP shows a strong sintering inhibiting effect because its thermal decomposition products forming metastable Mg carbides that decompose into carbon acting as sintering barrier between Mg powder particles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sintering behavior, microstructure and mechanical properties of a Ti–16Nb alloy processed by metal injection molding (MIM) technology using elemental powders were investigated in this work by optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), dilatometer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). It was found that from 700 °C to 1500 °C the homogenization and densification process of MIM Ti–16Nb alloy consisted of three steps, i.e., Ti-diffusion-controlled step, Ti–Nb-diffusion step and matrix-diffusion step. Titanium carbide formation was observed in the samples sintered at 1300 °C and 1500 °C, but not in the ones sintered at 900 °C and 1100 °C. The MIM Ti–16Nb specimens sintered at 1500 °C exhibited a good combination of high tensile strength and low Young’s modulus. However, the titanium carbide particles led to poor ductility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Abstract Ongoing research has proven that Mg alloys can be introduced into the metal injection moulding process for the production of small parts in high quantities and of complex shape for medical as well as lightweight applications. Previously, development studies have been conducted using Mg and Mg-Ca alloys intended for medical application. However, progress towards the implementation of a process for technical and lightweight applications alloys with higher strength is needed. Therefore, in this study processing of conventional AZ81 alloy by MIM was successfully developed. Using this alloy, a yield strength of approximately 120 MPa and an ultimate tensile strength of approximately 255 MPa with elongation at fracture of approximately 7% was achieved. T4 heat treatment at 420 °C for 10 h does not reveal a positive influence on the mechanical properties this could be caused by an observed grain growth effect. This is in contrast to conventional material for example as cast, where T4 heat treatment is known to improve the mechanical properties especially elongation at fracture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the presence of retained β phase might be detrimental for the creep properties of titanium aluminides, elements that stabilize the β phase, e.g. Nb and Mo, can only be used within a limited range. In this work, additions of the neutral element Zr to the alloy Ti-45Al-5Nb-0.2B-0.2C (in at.%) through elemental powder metallurgy were investigated. A powder-metallurgical processing route has been selected for this study, as it appears attractive with respect to microstructural homogeneity and manufacturing costs of complex parts. Different alloys with Zr content varying from 1 to 5 at.% were prepared by uniaxial pressing of a mix of elemental and pre-alloyed powders together with a binder system. The mechanical properties were evaluated by hardness and compression creep tests. The results indicate that Zr significantly decreases the melting point of the base alloy, which directly influences the sintering behaviour and with increasing Zr content the optimum sintering temperature decreases. The creep resistance showed a general improvement with increasing Zr content. The Zr additions resulted in the formation of γ phase enriched with Zr at the colony boundaries, the implications of which are discussed in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]