Fatigue properties of a metastable β-type titanium alloy with reversible phase transformation

Due to recent concern about allergic and toxic effects of Ni ions released from TiNi alloy into human body, much attention has been focused on the development of new Ni-free, metastable beta-type biomedical titanium alloys with a reversible phase transformation between the beta phase and the alpha'' martensite. This study investigates the effect of the stress-induced alpha'' martensite on the mechanical and fatigue properties of Ti-24Nb-4Zr-7.6Sn (wt.%) alloy. The results show that the as-forged alloy has a low dynamic Young's modulus of 55GPa and a recoverable tensile strain of approximately 3%. Compared with Ti-6Al-4V ELI, the studied alloy has quite a high low-cycle fatigue strength because of the effective suppression of microplastic deformation by the reversible martensitic transformation. Due to the low critical stress required to induce the martensitic transformation, it has low fatigue endurance comparable to that of Ti-6Al-4V ELI. Cold rolling produces a beta+alpha'' two-phase microstructure that is characterized by regions of nano-size beta grains interspersed with coarse grains containing alpha'' martensite plates. Cold rolling increases fatigue endurance by approximately 50% while decreasing the Young's modulus to 49GPa along the rolling direction but increasing it to 68GPa along the transverse direction. Due to the effective suppression of the brittle isothermal omega phase, balanced properties of high strength, low Young's modulus and good ductility can be achieved through ageing treatment at intermediate temperature.