Synthesis and Characterisation of New Superelastic and Low Elastic Modulus Ti-Nb-X Alloys for Biomedical Application

Ti-Nb based alloys are well known to their good mechanical properties, shape memory effect, superelasticity, as well as good biocompatibility. The Ti-24Nb (at%) binary alloy presents a shape memory behavior and low elastic modulus. Our study is focused on the improvement of their mechanical properties by adding a third alloying element (oxygen, nitrogen or silicon). Addition of 0.5 at% of N or O modifies drastically the mechanical behavior of Ti-24Nb alloy that exhibits superelastic behavior instead of shape memory one. On the other hand, addition of 0.5 at% of Si increased yield strength of the Ti-24Nb shape memory alloy.