Influence of Sintering Conditions and Pore Former Content in the Starting Mixture on Characteristics of Porous Titanium Prepared from TiH₂ Powder

Highly porous titanium, with porosity above 59%, has been prepared by a powder metallurgy method, using ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃) as a pore former. We have studied the influence of the pore former content (0, 10, 20, 30, and 60 vol %) in the starting mixture and the sintering temperature and medium on the porosity and strength of porous titanium. The porosity of the material has been shown to rise with increasing pore former content. Moreover, samples sintered in vacuum and argon differ in porosity. The strength of the porous samples has been shown to decrease with increasing pore former content and depend on the sintering medium and temperature. The strength of the vacuum-sintered samples is usually higher, occasionally reaching 1449 MPa. The sintering temperature has little effect on compressive strength characteristics of the porous samples.