Thread: New blade material

Gold-titanium alloy, sounds like it'll be a bit pricey.

If it is hard to grind, how do they machine it? As replacement joints today are a combination of ceramic and titanium with the bearing surfaces being the ceramic components I wonder quite why they think the joint will last longer. I would have thought that the ceramic is the part whose wear resistance needs to be developed.

Unless of course they are looking at dispensing with the ceramic and having titanium alloy to titanium alloy bearing surfaces. Then you would want some degree of low friction or self lubrication.

I am not knocking the idea of super hard material. I just wonder if it is appropriate for the application mentioned.

A further thought occurs that Titanium's claim to fame is that it has the strength of steel with just over half of the weight. Once gold is introduced the weight would go up significantly presumeably back to the weight of steel assuming a 50:50 ratio.

As far as an edge is concerned, it might be a bit difficult to achieve the edge at home.

Regards
Paul

I think the main reason that titanium and gold are used for medical purposes is their corrosion resistance.

Originally Posted by hiroller

I think the main reason that titanium and gold are used for medical purposes is their corrosion resistance.

More that they're non-immunogenic.

Non-immunogenic? Does that mean the body does not try to reject them? Just returning to Yowie's OP, the statement was relating to the hardness and I still don't see that would be relevant. Actually, he said four times the toughness, which is different to four times the hardness.

Confusing eh?

Regards
Paul

As I used it non-immunogenic means that most people don't have a reaction to titanium alloys. Some of the implants have been implicated in development of autoimmune diseases and some implants shed particles that do nasty things in the body.
Tough - I wouldn't be surprised. Probably the article refers to wear resistance and reduced tendency to make particles. Surprisingly enough these types of implants all wear out.

" Surprisingly enough these types of implants all wear out."

Oh hell! The clock's ticking.

Regards
Paul

Happens to us all.

Read more about Titanium alloys here: Titanium Alloys in Medical Applications

If it can hold an edge at 30 degrees, I'll bet it will show up in knives or tools at some point. Presumably, it's not going to be easy to machine (but who knows?).

With a CBN wheel and diamond abrasives, anything can be sharpened effectively.

Just look at the custom knife market. People are willing to put all kinds of things in a knife that don't actually hold a fine edge very well, and that are very difficult to sharpen to boot.