Fabrication of titanium foams by calciothermic reduction (Calciofoam)

• Applicant: Dr.-Ing. Inge Lindemann
• Subject Area: Metallurgical, Thermal and Thermomechanical Treatment of Materials
• Term: from 2015 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 265299132

Titanium foams are of great interest for a variety of applications. The goal of the project are enhanced properties of the studied titanium foams using fine titanium powders prepared by calciothermic low temperature reduction. One focus of the project is the preparation of macroporous titanium foams using the space holder method. The other focus is the preparation of micro- and nanoporous titanium foams for catalytic and energy storage applications as for supercapacitors. Macroporous titanium foams (60-80 vol.%) are of great interest for biomedical applications due to the enhanced bone attachment and excellent biocompatibility. Additionally, the mismatch between Young’s modulus of bone and implant material can be reduced by the porosity which prevents implant loosing. In order to guarantee sufficient mechanical strength those macroporous foams are fabricated with fine TiH2 powders synthesized in the frame of our former project by calciothermic reduction. Those small particles result in an extremely fine-grained titanium structure with high mechanical strength. The second goal of this project is the preparation of micro- and nanoporous foams prepared by dealloying of FeTi-specimens. Those specimens are prepared from calciothermically reduced FeTiO3 powder which are pressed and sintered afterwards. The dealloying procedure will be carried out in hot acetic acid. The titanium foams are naturally covered by a thin passivation layer which is the functional part for catalytic as well as supercapacitor applications. TiO2 nanoparticles are important catalysts for purification of water but for technical convenience a scaffold for the particles is aspired which could be solved by these high surface area foams. Structural and chemical characterization of powders and foams are carried out in order to correlate them with their mechanical and functional properties.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants