Combinatorial Development And In Vitro Characterization Of The Quaternary Zr-Ti-X-Y (X-Y = Cu-Ag/Co-Ni) Metallic Glass For Prospective Bioimplants

The prospect of Zr-based metallic glasses (MGs) in achieving a combination of properties, such as excellent electrochemical properties and extended biocompatibility, has been studied in this work. The combinatorial method (magnetron co-sputtering) has been adopted to fabricate two novel quaternary MG systems (Zr50Ti32Cu13Ag5 and Zr40Ti37Co12Ni11) with optimized compositions. The structural analysis has been performed by the grazing incidence x-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy to affirm the disordered structure of the MG systems. The electrochemical analysis demonstrates lower corrosion- (0.10 and 0.04 mu A cm(-2)), and passive (2.93 and 1.88 mu A cm(-2)) current densities of the MGs. In addition, the MGs are found to have higher charge transfer resistance (4.70 and 7.86 M omega cm(2)) compared to the 316L stainless steel (SS) (0.15 M omega cm(2)) and cp-Ti (0.53 M omega cm(2)). The electrochemical features are indicative towards higher corrosion-resistance capabilities of Zr50Ti32Cu13Ag5 and Zr40Ti37Co12Ni11 MGs to prevent adverse biological reactions. Additionally, the cell proliferation analysis manifests higher cell proliferation on the Zr50Ti32Cu13Ag5 and Zr40Ti37Co12Ni11 MGs for the MC3T3-E1 preosteoblast cells. Besides, the MTS assay analysis strengthens the prediction of cytocompatibility of the MGs. The integration of such unique properties makes these MG systems ideal candidates for biomedical implants.