Effect of zirconium on the mechanical performance, corrosion behaviour, and cytocompatibility of Ti-14Cr-xZr alloys

The mechanical performance, corrosion behaviour, and cytocompatibility of the Ti-14Cr-xZr (x = 3, 6, 10 wt%) alloys were studied. Alloy production was carried out by arc melting under an inert gas atmosphere. Afterwards, alloys were homogenized and solution-treated at 900 ˚C, followed by quenching. Results exhibited that the β-phase was the only detectable phase in the current study. Zr-addition to Ti-14Cr improved the strength of Ti-14Cr by around 16 % at 10 % Zr-content. However, elongation decreased from 10 % to 4 % at the same content. Increasing the Zr-content enhanced the corrosion properties and reduced the corrosion rate of the Ti-14Cr alloy. The cytocompatibility of Ti-14Cr was increased with increasing Zr content, and the Ti-14Cr-10Zr showed the highest cell viability values, which should become a candidate for further investigation in the biomedical field.