Effects of Ta content on Young’s modulus and tensile properties of binary Ti–Ta alloys for biomedical applications

The effects of Ta content on the microstructures, dynamic Young’s modulus and tensile properties of the quenched Ti–Ta alloys were investigated for biomedical applications. The microstructures were examined using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and an X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. The results indicate that the microstructures of the quenched binary Ti–Ta alloys are sensitive to Ta content. The Ti–Ta alloys exhibit lamellar HCP martensite (α′) structure at a Ta content below 20%, needle-like orthorhombic martensite (α″) structure at a Ta content between 30–50%, metastable β+α″ structure at a Ta content of 60%, and single metastable structure at a Ta content above 60%. The dynamic Young’s modulus and tensile properties of the binary Ti–Ta alloys depend strongly on Ta content. Ti–30% Ta and 70% Ta alloys have much lower modulus and a good combination of high strength and low modulus among all the studied Ti–Ta alloys. They have the great potential to become new candidates for biomedical applications.