Stress Corrosion Crack Growth Behavior of Titanium Alloy/Bioactive Glasses Sandwiches in Simulated Human Physiological Environment
Stress Corrosion Crack Growth Behavior of Titanium Alloy／Bioactive Glasses Sandwiches in Simulated Human Physiological Environment

Based on a series of newly developed bioactive glasses having suitable thermo-mechanical properties to allow application as fixation agents between bone and titanium alloy biomedical implants, the stress corrosion crack growth (SCCG) behavior of their interfaces with Ti6AI4V was investigated in simulated body fluid (SBF) with the objective of discerning the salient mechanisms of crack advance and to assess the reliability of the bonds. Results indicated that crack growth rates in Ti6AI4V/glass/Ti6AI4V sandwich specimens were nearly the same as or slightly lower than those in the bulk glasses at comparable stress intensities; indeed, cracks would prefer to propagate off the interface, suggesting that the Ti6AI4V/glass interface has relatively good crack-growth resistance. Mechanistically, interfacial crack growth appears to be controlled by the classic stress corrosion mechanisms for silicate glasses, with no discernible effect of bioactivity on the SCCG behavior being observed.