Ti ₄₀Zr ₁₀Cu ₃₆Pd ₁₄ Bulk Metallic Glass as Oral Implant Material

Abstract

This study proposes Ti40Zr10Cu36Pd14 bulk metallic glass (BMG) as an oral implant material and provides insights into its possible processing routes, where high-temperature compression molding via an optimized process is adopted to evaluate the thermoplastic net-shaping kinetics and tune the intrinsic properties of the alloy. We present processed BMGs and BMG composites of the same composition with improved thermomechanical stability, from which high strength retention at temperatures, compared to the cast glass, by >100 K higher is registered via dynamic mechanical analysis. A ~100 nm thin layer of Ti, Cu, and Zr oxide forms on the alloy surface identified by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The drop in the corrosion current density of the processed glass by two orders of magnitude with 4 orders of magnitude lower passivation current density compared to the as-cast state confirms extremely high stability in a 0.9 wt.% NaCl which can be linked to surface hydrophobicity. Cytocompatibility analysis conducted by seeding human gingival fibroblast cells directly onto the thermoplastically formed Ti40Zr10Cu36Pd14 BMG reveals no adverse effect on cytocompatibility. On the other hand, the formation of a nanoscale oxide layer on the thermoplastically formed samples leads to significantly higher cell attachments on the surface.

Keywords: Bulk metallic glass, Viscoelastic behavior, thermoplastic net-shaping, oral implant, Antibacterial, cytocompatible