Novel single crystalline-like non-equiatomic TiZrHfNbTaMo bio-high entropy alloy (BioHEA) developed by laser powder bed fusion

This study developed a non-equiatomic Ti28.33Zr28.33Hf28.33Nb6.74Ta6.74Mo1.55 super-solid solutionized BioHEA using laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) to reach the full potential as BioHEA. We succeeded in significant suppression of elemental segregation, thus, resulting in a single crystalline-like texture by activating layer-to-layer epitaxial growth. Relatively low Young’s modulus was achieved in the single crystalline-like BioHEA. Moreover, LPBF-fabricated BioHEA exhibited significantly higher yield stress (1355–1426 MPa) due to the effective solid solution hardening compared to as-cast counterpart with marked segregation (949 MPa), and good biocompatibility. This is first report achieving BioHEA with low modulus, excellent strength-ductility balance, and good biocompatibility via LPBF. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT IMPACT STATEMENT This study achieved super-solid-solutionized and single crystalline-like TiZrHfNbTaMo bio-high entropy alloy using laser powder bed fusion, resulting in low Young’s modulus along <001> oriented direction, excellent strength-ductility balance, and good cytocompatibility.