†Microstructure and Biocompatibility of Porous Ti-Nb-Zr-CPP Composite Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering and Leaching Process

Metallic biomaterials such as titanium and its alloys have been widely used as permanent implant materials due to their excellent corrosion resistance, fatigue property, and strength. Calcium pyrophosphate (CPP) is an attractive bioceramic for human tissue implantation due to its good biocompatibility and similar composition to human bone. High energy mechanical milling and spark plasma sintering (SPS) can be used to fabricate a sound composite of the Ti-Nb-Zr-CPP. In a biomaterial such as the Ti-6Al-4V ELI alloy, the coating property between the bioceramic and Ti-based alloy is very important. By addition of CPP to the Ti-Nb-Zr alloy, the Ti-Nb-Zr alloy can improve the wetability between the Ti alloy and bioceramic as a coating material. Also the porous surface of the biomaterials can improve the symphyseal ability with osteoblast. In this study, a porous surface can be made by using several different leaching solutions such as aqueous diluted H3PO4. Ti-Nb-Zr-CPP composite was fabricated by spark plasma sintering (SPS) at 1000 ℃ under 70 MPa using high energy mechanical milled powder. A porous surface was successfully fabricated by using a 40 vol%H3PO4+ 60 vol.%H2O leaching solution at room temperature for 24 h.