Investigations of Titanium-Alkaline Earth Composite Materials
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The Symposium provides undergraduates from all academic disciplines with an opportunity to share their research with the university community and other guests through conference-style oral presentations. The Symposium represents part of a larger effort of Iowa State University to enhance, support, and celebrate undergraduate research activity.
Though coordinated by the University Honors Program, all undergraduate students are eligible and encouraged to participate in the Symposium. Undergraduates conducting research but not yet ready to present their work are encouraged to attend the Symposium to learn about the presentation process and students not currently involved in research are encouraged to attend the Symposium to learn about the broad range of undergraduate research activities that are taking place at ISU.
The first Symposium was held in April 2007. The 39 students who presented research and their mentors collectively represented all of ISU's Colleges: Agriculture and Life Sciences, Business, Design, Engineering, Human Sciences, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and the Graduate College. The event has grown to regularly include more than 100 students presenting on topics that span the broad range of disciplines studied at ISU.
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This freshman honors project has focused on the investigation of two unexplored binary titanium systems, Ti–Ca and Ti–Mg. The motivation of this project is to assess the possible production of materials for which there may be biomedical applications. The objective is to produce a metal-metal composite that can mimic bone and provide better elastic properties. This project used a Gleeble 3800 system to infiltrate a titanium architecture (i.e., skeleton) with calcium or magnesium at high temperatures. Using the Gleeble, separate specimens of Ti-Ca and Ti-Mg were produced by resistively heating both metals until calcium and magnesium were molten, allowing for a titanium architecture to be infiltrated by the molten metals. Following the sample preparation, the new composites were characterized using a scanning electron microscope and an x-ray diffraction spectrometer. The scanning electron microscope was used to observe the microstructure produced in the specimens and to analyze any compositional changes that occurred. The x-ray diffraction spectrometer was used to analyze the crystallographic phases produced in the specimen.