Chair of

High Temperature Materials

This project brings together the expertise of the chair "High Temperature Materials" at OVGU with the groups of Prof. H. Stone and Prof. N. Jones at the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy of the University of Cambridge, UK.
The project focuses on materials development and understanding of microstructure-property-relations between the microstructure of multi-component metallic materials and their mechanical properties. Selected materials are examples from the class of biocompatible Ti-Nb-Ta alloys.

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Multi-component materials are known as alloys which are based on a variety of elements in equiatomic or highly concentrated fractions, instead of the concept of alloys based on one mayor element. Materials classes like High-Entropy alloys (HEAs), Medium-Entropy alloys (MEAs) and Compositionally Complex Alloys (CCAs) belong to these systems. The special feature of multicomponent alloys is due to the physical and thermodynamic conditions (high entropy effect, cocktail effect, sluggish diffusion effect, etc.), which lead to outstanding mechanical and physical material properties. Especially refractory elements such as Mo, Nb, Ta and Ti have emerged as essential components regarding the development of high-temperature materials. However, an additional aspect has rather moved into the background: the biocompatibility of many refractory metals. This property is considered as a key aspect in the development of multicomponent alloys for biomedical applications. In the course of this research project, materials conception and alloy development is carried out at the chair of high-temperature materials of Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, whilst biocompatibility experiments and validation are conducted in cooperation with the chair of experimental orthopedics under supervision of Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Jessica Bertrand. The aim of this project is to develop a novel multi-component alloying system with outstanding mechanical properties, combined with optimized biocompatibility with respect to different biological cells and tissue for the use in biomedical applications.

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The so-called High Entropy Alloys (HEAs) or Compositionally Complex Alloys (CCAs) represent a new and attractive class of materials with promising mechanical, physical and chemical properties. In contrast to conventional alloys based on a specific metal, they consist of at least 5 different elements in approximately equal atomic proportions. Such alloys have remarkable property profiles that differ significantly from those of the respective base components. Refractory metal-based HEAs appear to be particularly interesting; they typically consist of components with melting temperatures above 2000°C. These refractory metal-based HEAs are promising new material candidates for high-temperature structural materials in various areas of energy technology, e.g. as gas turbine blades or solar receivers. In addition, potential applications in medical technology are also conceivable due to their good biocompatibility.
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The requirements placed on medical devices and medical technology components are heavily dependent on their use. For a long time, biocompatible materials were regarded as chemically and biologically inert within the human body, but this has since been revised, as there is always a response from the body.
Nanostructured biomaterials, including those based on refractory metals, may be of great interest for the future of the biomedical industry and are therefore increasingly the focus of current research. Their fundamentally good compatibility in the human body together with excellent mechanical properties are decisive factors here. The use of titanium and titanium alloys in surgery has steadily increased due to their good combination of properties compared to other metallic implant materials such as stainless steel and cobalt-chromium alloys. Biocompatible titanium and titanium-based alloys are characterized by good fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and low density, resulting in a high specific strength-to-weight ratio that allows for lighter and stronger structures. One of the most popular titanium alloys used in medicine today is Ti-6Al-4V. However, even approved medical materials can still be optimized for acceptance in the human body.
In this project, the first cell population experiments are being carried out on new, innovative materials with mesenchymal stem cells and osteoblasts. They are a perfect indicator of biocompatibility and cell ingrowth behavior for potential implant materials or other medical materials.
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