Zhang Erlin, Ren Jing, Li Shengyi, Yang Lei, Qin Gaowu
Key Laboratory for Anisotropy and Texture of Materials, Education Ministry of China, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, People's Republic of China.
Biomed Mater. 2016 Oct 21;11(6):065001. doi: 10.1088/1748-6041/11/6/065001.
Ti-Cu sintered alloys have shown good antibacterial abilities. However, the sintered method (powder metallurgy) is not convenient to produce devices with a complex structure. In this paper, Ti-Cu alloys with 2.0, 3.0 and 4.0 wt.% Cu were prepared in an arc melting furnace and subjected to different heat treatments: solid solution and ageing, to explore the possibility of preparing an antibacterial Ti-Cu alloy by a casting method and to examine the effect of Cu content. Phase identification was conducted on an XRD diffraction meter, and the microstructure was observed by a metallographic microscope, a scanning electron microscope (SEM) with energy disperse spectroscopy (EDS) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Microhardness and the compressive property of Ti-Cu alloys were tested, and the corrosion resistance and antibacterial activity were assessed in order to investigate the effect of the Cu content. Results showed that the as-cast Ti-Cu alloys exhibited a very low antibacterial rate against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus). Heat treatment improved the antibacterial rate significantly, especially after a solid and ageing treatment (T6). Antibacterial rates as high as 90.33% and 92.57% were observed on Ti-3Cu alloy and Ti-4Cu alloy, respectively. The hardness, the compressive yield strength, the anticorrosion resistance and the antibacterial rate of Ti-Cu alloys increased with an increase of Cu content in all conditions. It was demonstrated that homogeneous distribution and a fine TiCu phase played a very important role in the mechanical property, anticorrosion and antibacterial properties. Furthermore, it should be pointed out that the Cu content should be at least 3 wt.% to obtain good antibacterial properties (>90% antibacterial rate) as well as satisfactory mechanical properties.
钛铜烧结合金已显示出良好的抗菌能力。然而，烧结方法（粉末冶金）不利于制造具有复杂结构的器件。本文在电弧熔炼炉中制备了含2.0 wt.%、3.0 wt.%和4.0 wt.%铜的钛铜合金，并对其进行了不同的热处理：固溶和时效处理，以探索通过铸造方法制备抗菌钛铜合金的可能性，并研究铜含量的影响。利用X射线衍射仪进行相鉴定，通过金相显微镜、带有能谱仪（EDS）的扫描电子显微镜（SEM）和透射电子显微镜（TEM）观察微观结构。测试了钛铜合金的显微硬度和压缩性能，并评估了其耐腐蚀性和抗菌活性，以研究铜含量的影响。结果表明，铸态钛铜合金对金黄色葡萄球菌（S. aureus）的抗菌率非常低。热处理显著提高了抗菌率，尤其是经过固溶和时效处理（T6）后。在Ti-3Cu合金和Ti-4Cu合金上分别观察到高达90.33%和92.57%的抗菌率。在所有条件下，钛铜合金的硬度、压缩屈服强度、耐腐蚀性和抗菌率均随铜含量的增加而提高。结果表明，均匀分布和细小的TiCu相在力学性能、耐腐蚀性和抗菌性能方面起着非常重要的作用。此外，应该指出的是，为了获得良好的抗菌性能（抗菌率>90%）以及令人满意的力学性能，铜含量应至少为3 wt.%。
