APPLICATION OF SINTERED TITANIUM ALLOYS TO METAL DENTURE BASES: A STUDY OF TITANIUM POWDER SHEETS FOR COMPLETE DENTURE BASE

The purpose of this study was the fabrication of titanium powder sheets to enable the application of sintered titanium alloys as metal denture bases. The effects of titanium particle shape and size, binder content, and plasticizer content on the surface smoothness, tensile strength and elongation of titanium powder sheets was investigated. To select a suitable ratio of powdered metal contents for application as a metal denture base, the effects of aluminum content in Ti sheets and various other powder metal contents in Ti-Al sheets on the density, sintering shrinkage, and bending strength were evaluated. Based on the results of the above experiments, we developed a mixed powder sheet composed of 83Ti-7Al-10Cr with TA-45 titanium powder (atomized, -45μm), and 8 mass% binder content. This titanium alloy sheet had good formability and ductility. Its sintered titanium alloy had a density of 3.2g/cm 3 , sintering shrinkage of 3.8%, and bending strength of 403 MPa. The titanium alloy sheet is clinically acceptable for fabricating denture bases.