Porous and porous surfaced Ti-6Al-4V implant compacts were fabricated by electro-discharge-sintering (EDS) of atomized spherical Ti-6Al-4V powders with a diameter of , The solid core formed in the center of the compact after discharge was composed of acicular Widmanstatten grains, The hardness value at the solid core was much higher than that at the particle interface or particles in the porous layer, which can be attributed to both heat treatment and work hardening effects induced from EDS, The compressive yield strength was in a range of 19 to 436 MPa which significantly depends on both input energy and capacitance, Selected porous-surfaced Ti-6Al-4V implant compacts with a solid core have much higher compressive strengths compared to the human teeth and sintered Ti dental implants.
Implant prototypes with various porosities were fabricated by electro-discharge-sintering of atomized spherical Ti-6Al-4V powders. Single pulse of 0.75 to 2.0 kJ/0.7 g-powder, using 150, 300, and capacitors was applied to produce a fully porous and porous surfaced implant compact. The solid core formed in the center of the compact after discharge was composed of acicular grains and porous layer consisted of particles connected in three dimensions by necks. The solid core and neck sizes increased with an increase in input energy and capacitance. On the other hand, pore volume decreased with increased capacitance and input energy due to the formation of solid core. Capacitance and input energy are the only controllable discharge parameters even though the heat generated during a discharge is the unique parameter that determines the porosity of compact. It is known that electro-discharge-sintering of spherical Ti-6Al-4V powders can efficiently produce fully-porous and porous surfaced Ti-6Al-4V implants with various porosities in a short time less then 400 isec by manipulating the discharging condition such as input energy and capacitance including powder size.