Titanium is one of the most common materials for bone grafts, but it has serious drawbacks. Its elasticity, hardness and other physical and mechanical parameters greatly exceed those of bone tissue. In many cases, this results in too little mechanical load on the protected bone area of the graft, resulting in its gradual degeneration. To make up for this material's shortcomings, researchers have studied a series of titanium-niobium alloys and their nanostructure mechanisms. After studying the soft niobium titanium alloy with niobium content from 5% to 50%, it was found that the titanium alloy with niobium content of 25% had the highest cell activity. He explained that by making titanium oxide nanotubes on the surface of the graft, the graft's survival rate could be improved. Titanium oxide nanotubes can improve tissue proliferation and adhesion between cells and metal surfaces.
The formation of oxide nanotubes on the surface of titanium alloy accelerates with the increase of niobium content. Nanotubes grown by electrochemical anodization, due to their hollow structure, can be loaded onto the implant surface prior to surgery for local drug delivery, such as antibiotics or growth factors. By changing the parameters of niobium content and electrochemical anodization, the geometric parameters, physical and mechanical properties of nanotubes can be controlled to create implants with specific characteristics that maximize the requirements of clinical objectives.
A preparation method for medical titanium niobium alloy products is characterized in that the method includes the following steps: a) mixing pure titanium powder and pure niobium powder according to the stoichiometric ratio of titanium niobium alloy, the particle size of the pure titanium powder is not more than 53μm, and the particle size of the pure niobium powder is not more than 30μm; The maximum particle size of the pure niobium powder does not exceed 60% of the maximum particle size of the pure titanium powder; B) According to the three-dimensional STL data of the products, the selective laser melting molding method is used to print and shape the products, and the medical titanium niobium alloy products are prepared; The process parameters of selective laser melting are as follows: The laser power (P) is 50~1000W, the laser scanning speed (ν) is 20~300cm/s, the coating thickness (t) is 0.001~0.01cm, the laser scanning distance (ω) is 0.004~0.03cm, and the P/(ν×t×ω) is not less than 50kJ/cm3. C) Carry out at least one of the heat treatment, grinding and polishing or sandblasting of the medical Ti-niobium alloy products in step B) according to the design requirements of the products.
