THE EFFECT OF THERMAL OXIDATION OF POROUS AND NON-POROUS TITANIUM ALLOY

One of the most important two-phase alloys alpha+beta is Ti-6Al-4V, which is frequently used in medicine. This alloy is characterized by innovative combination of strength, good corrosion resistance in the environment of chlorides, the highest biotolerance and the lowest Young's modulus. Ti-6Al-4V is the basic material for long life implants in orthopaedics, traumatic surgery, dentistry or cardiology. Taking into account current level of technology and operating methodologies, the use of metal biomaterials remains to be necessary. However, technological progress causes an increase interest in development of new materials with the possibility of stimulation for osseointegration. The metallic and ceramic sintered are numbered among multi-phase materials and are considered as materials with functional properties, such as increased resistance to fracture toughness and porosity, very good biocompatibility compared to other metallic biomaterials and fatigue strength. Modification of the surfaces of engineering materials especially titanium alloys is intended to improve function and usability these materials (e.g. good corrosion resistance in the environment of human tissues) [1-2]. The composites for analysis were obtained using the most modern methods of powder sintering i.e. spark plasma sintering (SPS). The main aim of the study was to evaluate the surface morphology of the alloy and functional properties after the thermal oxidation at different temperatures. The results of optical microscope metallography, SEM/EDX, XRD analysis are also presented.