Fabrication of Titanium-Silver porous dental implant using spark plasma sintering method

Dental implants are one of the most common treatments in dentistry and Titanium is one of the most widely used materials to make a dental implant. Silver is also a good choice because of its antibacterial properties and reduced risk of infection after surgery. But a dental implant should have a lower Young modulus than the jawbone to prevent stress shielding. One way to reduce the Young modulus is to create porosity. The aim of this study was to make a Titanium-Silver dental implant using spark plasma sintering (SPS) method with 20-25% porosity. For this purpose, parts were made with Ti -1wt.% Ag and Ti -3wt.% Ag, under temperatures of 900 °C and 850 °C and pressures of 10 MPa and 30 MPa. Results of XRD and SEM showed that the samples had alpha-Titanium microstructure with pore size of less than 100 microns with spherical morphology. Also, the sample made at 850 °C and 10 MPa is the best sample because it has 20-25% porosity and compressive strength close to the jawbone, compared to other samples. Statistical data and modeling in Design Expert software showed that porosity increases with decreasing temperature and pressure; but decreasing temperature is more effective in creating pores. According to the three-dimensional diagrams, it can be concluded that, the highest porosity, while maintaining the mechanical properties, was obtained at a temperature of 850 °C, pressure of 10 MPa and 1% Silver.