Fabrication of porous titanium scaffolds with high compressive strength using camphene-based freeze casting

Abstract

We herein report the fabrication of highly porous titanium (Ti) scaffolds with unusually high compressive strength by freezing a titanium hydride (TiH2)/camphene slurries at 42 degrees C. As the freezing time was increased from I to 7 days, the pore size obtained was increased significantly from 143 to 271 mu m due to the continual overgrowth of camphene dendrites. However, interestingly, the formation of the micro-pores inside the Ti walls was suppressed at longer freezing time. This resulted in a significant increase in compressive strength up to 110 +/- 17 MPa with a porosity of 64%. It is believed that this unusually high compressive strength with large interconnected pores makes this material suitable for applications as load-bearing parts. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.