Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) Evaluation of Biomedical Nanostructured β-type Titanium Alloys
Hakan Yilmazer Burak Dikici Mitsuo Niinomi Masaaki Nakai
AbstractTi–29Nb–13Ta–4.6Zr (TNTZ) composed of non-toxic and non-allergenic Nb, Ta, and Zr alloying elements, has been extensively investigated [1] as an alternative to the conventional metal based biomaterials. TNTZ must combine both excellent mechanical biocompatibility, corrosion resistance, good cell-implant interactions and healing. Microstructural features such as the grain diameter, secondary phases, residual stress, nature of the surface oxide film, and lattice defects can play a major role in determining the physical response of the material that influence the biocompatibility of TNTZ [1,2]. Severe plastic deformation (SPD) has been a proven technique for controlling the grain size in ultrafine-grained (UFG) (<1000 nm) and/or nanograined (NG) (<100 nm) scale [3]. Furthermore, the influence of ultrafine graining and nanograining on corrosion resistance differs among metallic materials [4,5]. Thorpe et al. [4] reported that there is no differences in corrosion resistance in Ni-based metallic materials and pure Cu. On the other hand, Rofagha et al.[5] reported lower corrosion resistance in nanocrystalline Ni-P compared to the conventional polycrystalline Ni. Clearly, there is a strong connection between corrosion resistance and the microstructural features of metallic materials. Moreover, UFG/NS materials exhibits higher cell attachments compared to their course grained (CG) counterparts [6]. It is well known that high pressure torsion (HPT) is an effective processing for producing NG TNTZ [7]. In this study, the microstructural evolution and its effect on electrochemical behaviour of solution treated TNTZ (TNTZST) and aging treated TNTZ (TNTZAT) subjected to HPT processing were evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements in simulated body fluid (SBF). While TNTZST exhibited a single β body centred cubic (BCC) grain structure having a diameter of 40 µm, the microstructure of TNTZAT consisted of randomly distributed needle-like α (HCP) precipitates in the equiaxed β grains having a diameter of 40 µm. The microstructure of TNTZAHPT consists of NG elongated β grains with a 50 nm having subgrains of non-uniform morphologies resulting from distortion by severe torsional deformation.