Processing and mechanical properties of porous Ti-Mo alloy for biomedical applications

Titanium and some of its alloys are well accepted as load-bearing implant materials due to their excellent mechanical properties, superior corrosion resistance, and outstanding biocompatibility. However, solid implant materials may suffer from the problems of adverse tissue reaction, biomechanical mismatch and lack of new bone tissue ingrowth ability. In the present study, porous titanium-molybdenum (Ti-Mo) alloy was fabricated by the space-holding sintering method. The pore size, pore shape and porosity can be controlled through choosing appropriate space-holding particle materials. Electron scanning microscopy (SEM) was used for the characterisation of the porous Ti-Mo alloy. The mechanical properties of the porous Ti-Mo alloy samples were investigated by compressive tests. Results indicated that the porous Ti-Mo alloy provides promising potential for new implant materials with new bone tissue ingrowth ability and mechanical properties mimicking those of natural bone.