Abstract

This work aims to perform a computational analysis on the influence that microstructure and porosity have on the elastic modulus of Ti-6Al-4V foams used in biomedical applications with different ff/ fi-phase ratios. The work is divided into two analyses, first the influence that the alpha/beta-phase ratio has and second the effects that porosity and alpha/beta-phase ratio have on the elastic modulus. Two microstructures were analyzed: equiaxial alpha-phase grains + intergranular beta-phase (microstructure A) and equiaxial beta-phase grains + intergranular alpha-phase (microstructure B). The alpha/beta-phase ratio was variated from 10 to 90% and the porosity from 29 to 56%. The simulations of the elastic modulus were carried out using finite element analysis (FEA) using ANSYS software v19.3. The results were compared with experimental data reported by our group and those found in the literature. The beta-phase amount and porosity have a synergic effect on the elastic modulus, for example, when the foam has a porosity of 29 with 0% beta-phase, and it has an elastic modulus of approximate to 55 GPa, but when the beta-phase amount increases to 91%, the elastic modulus decreases as low as 38 GPa. The foams with 54% porosity have values smaller than 30 GPa for all the beta-phase amounts.