The development of load-bearing metallic implants requires an uncommon combination of mechanical compatibility, corrosion resistance in physiological environments, and biocompatibility that supports stable integration with host tissues. In this study, we investigate an oxygen-doped TiZrNb medium-entropy alloy (~1 at.% O) fabricated by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) and evaluate its mechanical compatibility and bioactivity-relevant interfacial stability in simulated body fluid (SBF) on the plane perpendicular to the building direction, alongside the previously reported strength-ductility synergy. Nanoindentation reveals a low elastic modulus of ~80.86 GPa, substantially lower than that of commercially pure Ti and Ti-6Al-4V, indicating improved elastic matching with bone and reduced propensity for stress shielding. Electrochemical testing in SBF demonstrates markedly enhanced passivation of the additively manufactured alloy relative to its cast counterpart, evidenced by a low corrosion current density (i corr = 1.52 × 10 -8 A·cm -2 ) and a high charge-transfer resistance (R ct = 207.6 kΩ·cm 2 ). In vitro apatite-forming tests show that the L-PBF surface develops dense and uniformly distributed Ca-P-O-rich deposits, suggesting an improved mineralization capability. Collectively, these results establish an additive manufacturing pathway to integrate bone-friendlier elasticity with robust corrosion/mineralization performance in TiZrNb-based alloys, supporting the promise of L-PBF TiZrNb-O for next-generation, patient-specific load-bearing implants.
Si et al. (Sun,) studied this question.