Toxic elements-free low-cost Ti-Fe-Si metallic glass biomaterial developed by mechanical alloying

Abstract Ti-Fe-Si systems that are free of toxic elements and have high glass-forming abilities are considered to be theoretically ideal biomaterials. Currently, Ti-Fe-Si amorphous alloy production by rapid solidification processing (RSP) is limited to strips, which restricts its size. In order to eliminate this size restriction, this study developed Ti-Fe-Si amorphous alloy powder for the first time using mechanical alloying (MA), thereby laying a foundation for its subsequent bulk preparation by the consolidation process. Furthermore, the effects of the big-to-small grinding balls weight ratio (BSR), the ball-to-powder weight ratio (BPR), and the milling time during MA on the amorphous transition of samples were systematically investigated. This work provides a new avenue to use Ti-Fe-Si metallic glass in medical devices.