Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15Zr alloy used as dental implant material

Alexander E Medvedev; Andrey Molotnikov; Rimma Lapovok; Rolf Zeller; Simon Berner; Philippe Habersetzer; Florian Dalla Torre

doi:10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.05.008

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15Zr alloy used as dental implant material

J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2016 Sep:62:384-398. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.05.008. Epub 2016 May 11.

Authors

Alexander E Medvedev¹, Andrey Molotnikov², Rimma Lapovok³, Rolf Zeller⁴, Simon Berner⁵, Philippe Habersetzer⁵, Florian Dalla Torre⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia. Electronic address: alexander.medvedev@monash.edu.
² Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia.
³ Institute for Frontier Materials, Deakin University, Geelong, Victoria 3216, Australia.
⁴ Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoffmechanik IWM, 79108 Freiburg, Germany.
⁵ Institut Straumann AG, Basel, Switzerland.

PMID: 27258932
DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2016.05.008

Abstract

Ti-Zr alloys have recently started to receive a considerable amount of attention as promising materials for dental applications. This work compares mechanical properties of a new Ti-15Zr alloy to those of commercially pure titanium Grade4 in two surface conditions - machined and modified by sand-blasting and etching (SLA). As a result of significantly smaller grain size in the initial condition (1-2µm), the strength of Ti-15Zr alloy was found to be 10-15% higher than that of Grade4 titanium without reduction in the tensile elongation or compromising the fracture toughness. The fatigue endurance limit of the alloy was increased by around 30% (560MPa vs. 435MPa and 500MPa vs. 380MPa for machined and SLA-treated surfaces, respectively). Additional implant fatigue tests showed enhanced fatigue performance of Ti-15Zr over Ti-Grade4.

Keywords: Dental implants; Fatigue; Microstructure; SLA (Sand blasting and acid etching); Ti–Zr alloy.

MeSH terms

Dental Alloys*
Dental Implants*
Materials Testing
Surface Properties
Titanium*
Zirconium*

Substances

Dental Alloys
Dental Implants
Zirconium
Titanium