Preparation and characterization of biomedical highly porous Ti-Nb alloy.

The compressive strength and the biocompatibility were assessed for the porous Ti-25 wt%Nb alloy fabricated by the combination of the sponge impregnation technique and sintering technique. The alloy provided pore sizes of 300-600 μm, porosity levels of 71 ± 1.5%, in which the volume fraction of open pores was 94 ± 1.3%. The measurements also showed that the alloy had the compressive Young's modulus of 2.23 ± 0.5 GPa and the strength of 98.4 ± 4.5 MPa, indicating that the mechanical properties of the alloy are similar to those of human bone. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations revealed that the pores were well connected to form three-dimension (3D) network open cell structure. Moreover, no obvious impurities were detected in the porous structure. The experiments also confirmed that rabbit bone mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) could adhere and proliferate in the porous Ti-25 wt%Nb alloy. The interactions between the porous alloy and the cells are attributed to the porous structure with relatively higher surface. The suitable mechanical and biocompatible properties confirmed that this material has a promising potential in the application for tissue engineering.