Heat Treatment Effects on β Ti-10Mo-xMn Alloys for Biomedical Applications

When it comes to developing new titanium alloys for biomaterials, β metastable alloys have been gaining the most attention from researchers, as they have a lower elastic modulus and the microstructure can be altered by adding other elements and heat treatments (HT), which makes the material a promising biomaterial. The Ti-10Mo-Mn alloys were melted in an arc furnace. After ingot casting, a homogenization treatment (#T) was carried out, followed by the mechanical processing of hot rolling (#1) and subsequent annealing HT (#2). This work aimed to analyze the influence of some HT on the phase constituents, percentages, morphologies, distributions and selected mechanical properties, such as microhardness and elastic modulus in Ti-10Mo-xMn system alloys, ranging from 0 to 8% by weight. The results showed that alloys with low manganese content, classified as metastable, were sensitive to the HT in this study. From 4% manganese, the alloys had a stable β phase and were, therefore, not sensitive to the HT. The hardness of the alloys with 0 and 2% manganese remained high, possibly due to the presence of the omega phase. The elastic modulus increased from the hot rolling condition (#1) to annealing condition (#2) in all compositions. The Ti-10Mo-2Mn#1 alloy stood out among the alloys studied. It showed the lowest elastic modulus (~87 GPa), making it suitable for use as a biomaterial.