Why Are Titanium Alloys Commonly Used in the Medical Industry?

Titanium alloys have become increasingly popular in the development of products in the medical industry because of their excellent corrosion resistance and weight to strength ratio. Even at high temperatures, titanium alloys are able to retain a high tensile strength and toughness. Additionally, titanium alloys are biocompatible, making them ideal for creating bodily implants.

Titanium has an excellent strength-to-weight ratio, being approximately 60% the density of steel and able to reach strength levels comparable to some steels. Titanium is compatible with multiple materials, including carbon and epoxy, which is a major benefit to multiple industries. Due to titanium alloys’ high creep strength, they can withstand elevated temperatures up to 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, depending on the need for the products.

Its superior oxidation, corrosion, fatigue, and fracture resistance make titanium alloys a dependable choice for medical products. Medical products must be uniform and of the highest quality because they’re crucial to patients’ health.

How Stress Relieving Benefits Titanium Alloys

Stress relieving titanium alloys is a method used to reduce residual stresses within the workpiece without changing the mechanical properties of a part. The process is helpful for partially eliminating the stresses associated with forming, machining, or welding.

Pure titanium is soft, weak, and corrosion resistant. However, its many alloys are highly resistant to deformation due to solid solution strengthening and age hardening, while able to maintain excellent corrosion resistance, making it optimal for medical devices such as implants and instruments. Heat treatment is an excellent option for relieving stress on titanium alloys because it reduces residual stresses imparted on the parts, and in doing so reduces the parts likelihood of failure..

For some alloys, the process can be combined with other processes such as full annealing, solution treating, or aging. Precision heat treatment is crucial for multiple aspects of titanium equipment development, including:

• Creating products with an ideal combination of ductility, machinability, and stability
• Increasing equipment strength
• Optimizing features such as fracture resistance, fatigue strength, and high-temperature creep strength
• Executing specific material requirements
• Reducing residual stresses that develop during its creation
• Stress relieving is a process that can significantly improve your titanium alloys, ensuring better quality and uniformity of your products

The Importance of Stress Relieving

Stress relieving is essential to help maintain a product’s shape stability when non-uniform stresses develop on the material. The operation doesn’t impact the ultimate strength of the material and guarantees uniform products.

Although stress relieving is typically used on cast or wrought titanium alloys, the process can also be used on 3D-printed components.

Stress relieving is especially important to those in the medical industry because product uniformity is critical. It’s normal for stresses to develop due to product formation, dislocations, or in the heat-affected zone during welding. Stress relief can help medical manufacturers better care for their patients by guaranteeing equipment quality.

Additionally, vacuum processing enables manufacturers to receive bright parts after their components have been stress relieved.

Vacu Braze is an industry leader in medical heat treating. Additionally, a large variety of materials qualify for medical devices, including titanium stainless steels, precipitation hardening steels, and 3D printed materials. With guaranteed quality and optional expediting, your parts will be excellent.

Contact Vacu Braze today to learn more about titanium alloy processing and how it can benefit your production cycle.