Mechanical properties of environmental-electro-discharge-sintered porous Ti implants

Porous-surfaced Ti implant compacts were first fabricated by environmental-electro-discharging-sintering (EEDS) of atomized spherical Ti powders. Single pulses of 0.75 to 2.0 kJ/0.7 g powder, from 150, 300, and 450 μF capacitors, were applied to produce 12 different porous-surfaced implant compacts in an Ar atmosphere. The solid core formed in the center of the compact shows similar microstructure of cp Ti which was annealed and quenched in water. Hardness value on the solid core was much higher than that at the particle interface or on particles in the porous layer. This can be attributed to both heat treatment and work hardening effects induced from the EEDS. The compressive yield strength was in a range of 12 to 303 MPa and significantly depended on input energy. Selected porous-surfaced Ti implant compacts with a solid core have much higher compressive strengths compared to the human teeth and sintered Ti implants fabricated by conventional sintering process.