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Abstract
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Effects of SiC nanoparticles addition on synthesis and antibacterial properties of TiCu
nanocrystalline powder prepared through high energy mechanical milling were studied. The
results showed that the synthesis of TiCu powder in the presence of the nanoparticles was
accelerated and after mechanical alloying for 20h, a TiCu/SiC nanocrystalline powder with
the crystallite size <5 nm (quasi-crystalline), and 3.3 % lattice micro-strain obtained. Further
milling resulted in fully amorphous TiCu intermetallic alloy with more uniform distribution
of SiC nanoparticles. Also, the antibacterial activity of the synthesized powders was
investigated by disk diffusion test. The TiCu/SiC nanocomposites showed enhanced
antibacterial effect against S. aureus and E. coli, and with increasing SiC content, the
antibacterial behaviour was improved. This behaviour is attributed to high Cu2+ ion release as
a result of particle size refinement with increasing SiC nanoparticles.
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