Ab-initio and experimental study of phase stability of Ti-Nb alloys

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Authors

  • J. J. Gutiérrez Moreno
  • Matthias Bönisch
  • N. T. Panagiotopoulos
  • Mariana Calin
  • D. G. Papageorgiou
  • Annett Gebert
  • G. A. Evangelakis
  • Ch E. Lekka

External Organisational units

  • TU Dresden
  • CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
  • Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research, Dresden
  • University of Ioannina
  • Erich Schmid Institute of Materials Science
  • University College Cork
  • Univ. Grenoble Alpes, CNRS, Grenoble INP, SIMaP

Abstract

A systematic theoretical and experimental study concerning the crystallographic structure and electronic properties of Ti-xNb (x <50 at%) alloys is presented, aiming to enlighten the electronic origins of the β-phase stability which is of high interest for the development of novel β stabilized Ti-based alloys for biomedical applications. Both quantum-mechanical calculations and X-ray diffraction found several structural phases depending on Nb concentration. The ab-initio total energy results reveal that at low Nb contents the α′ and ω phases are favoured while at Nb content >18.75 at% the β-phase is favoured against all other crystallographic structures in line with the experimental results. Interestingly, at high Nb content the α′ and ω hexagonal phases become unstable due to the electronic band filling close to the Fermi level EF, which is mainly due to Nb-p and Ti-d antibonding hybridizations. On the contrary, in the cubic β-Ti-25Nb (at%) the depletion of the occupied electronic states at the EF occurs mainly due to Nb-d and Ti-d bonding interactions, resulting in a stable β-TiNb structure. These data could enlighten the electronic origin of the Ti-Nb phase stability, thus, may contribute to the design of β stabilized low moduli Ti-based alloys suitable for load-bearing biomedical applications.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)481-489
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of alloys and compounds
Volume696.2017
Issue number5 March
Early online date18 Nov 2016
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Mar 2017