Effect of Molybdenum Content on Structural, Mechanical, and Tribological Properties of Hot Isostatically Pressed β-Type Titanium Alloys for Orthopedic Applications

Aiming to develop alloys with better properties for orthopedic applications, the focus of the present research was to evaluate the effect of Mo at.% content on structural, mechanical, and tribological properties of hot isostatically pressed Ti-xMo (x = 4, 8, 12, 15, and 20 at.%) alloys. The structural evolution, mechanical properties, and tribological behavior of the nanostructured Ti-xMo alloys were evaluated using x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscope, and ball-on-disk tribometer. Wear tests were conducted under different applied loads of 2, 8, and 16 N. Experimental results indicated that the structural evolution and morphological changes of the milled alloys were sensitive to their molybdenum (Mo) content. The morphological characterization showed that the crystallite size and the particle size decreased with increasing Mo content (at.%) reaching the lowest values of 27 and 26 nm in the case of Ti-15Mo and Ti-20Mo, respectively. On the other hand, the coefficient of friction and wear rates were found to be decreasing with increasing Mo content.