A novel metastable β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy with low Young's modulus and low magnetic susceptibility.

In this study, a novel metastable β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy was designed and fabricated for hard tissue replacements. Upon solution treatment followed by water-quenching, the β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy possesses a combination of low Young's modulus (44 GPa) and low magnetic susceptibility (1.42 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ). An analysis of single-crystal elastic constants and Hill approximation shows that compared with binary β-type Ti-based alloys, the present β-type Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy exhibits lower bcc-structural (β-phase) stability represented by its slightly lower C′ and much lower C 44 , which gives rise to the ultralow Young's modulus in Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy. Meanwhile, the low magnetic susceptibility of raw materials, i.e., Zr (1.32 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ), Nb (2.24 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ) and Sn (0.03 × 10 −6  cm 3  g −1 ), leads to the eventual low magnetic susceptibility of Zr-12Nb-4Sn alloy. These results might shed some light on design and development of novel β-type Zr alloys, with a combination of lower Young's modulus and lower magnetic susceptibility, for biomedical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]