Zr-Ti-Al-Fe-Cu bulk metallic glasses for biomedical device application

A series of Zr_(63.5-x)Ti_(x)Al_(9)Fe_(4.5)Cu_(23)(x=0,1.5,3.0,4.5,6.0;at%) bulk metallic glasses(BMGs) were designed and produced by means of copper mold suction casting.The effect of Ti addition on the glass-forming ability(GFA) and mechanical properties of Zr_(63.5-x)Ti_(x)Al_(9)Fe_(4.5)Cu_(23) alloys was first investigated.The glassforming ability and room-temperature plasticity of BMGs increase first and then reduced with Ti content increasing.At x=3.0,the Zr_(60.5)Ti_(3)Al_(9)Fe_(4.5)Cu_(23) BMG showed a critical glass formation diameter of 10 mm and excellent room-temperature compressive plasticity(εP=4.7%) by using the samples with dimensions of Φ3 mm × 6 mm.Meanwhile,the BMG also showed better biocompatibility and biocorrosion resistance compared with Ti6 A14 V alloy.Under the imitated human body condition,the corrosion current density(Icorr) of BMG was 6.61 × 10^(-10) A·cm^(-2),which is two orders of magnitude lower than that of conventional Ti6Al4V alloy.Moreover,the CCD-986 sk cell viabilities are,respectively,65.4% and 46.6% on the BMG and Ti6 A14 V alloy,indicating better biocompatibility of BMG.The Zr_(60.5)Ti_(3)Al_(9)Fe_(4.5)Cu_(23) BMG with larger GFA,excellent mechanical properties,biocompatibility and biocorrosion resistance is considered as a potential material in biomedical device fields.