Microstructural Characteristics of Ti-Co Alloys for Biomedical Applications

TiCo alloys are important biomedical materials for both scientific and technological interests due to their potential applications as hard tissue replacement (HTR). The microstructural characteristics of the alloys in this system are of both scientific and technological interests. This work presents the results of microstructural characterization of as-cast TiCo alloys using a combination of various experimental methods. The results confirm that there are two variants of the Laves phase TiCo 2 , i.e. h-TiCo 2 and c-TiCo 2 exist in this system of as cast state. The eutectic reaction L(β-Ti)+ Ti 2 Co is determined to be occur at at 23 at.% Co, 1020 °C. Four peritectic reactions, i.e. L+ TiCo Ti 2 Co, L+ TiCo (c-TiCo 2 ), L+(c-TiCo 2 ) (h-TiCo 2 ) and L+Co TiCo 3 occur at 1058 °C, 1235 °C, 1210 °C, and 1190 °C, respectively. Eutectoid reaction (βTi) (αTi)+ Ti 2 Co occurs at 9 at.% Co, 685 °C.