In comparison with other metals titanium alloys exhibit an advantageous combination of biocompatibility and mechanical properties which qualifies them as materials for orthopaedic and dental implants in direct contact with the surrounding tissue. Under physiological conditions, these implants are subjected to a complex interaction of mechanical and chemical-biological loading. [1] The mechanical loading component comprises cyclic stresses with varying amplitudes, mean values and directions as well as friction and wear at the different interfaces of the bone implant composite structure. These loads have to be sustained in a rather corrosive environment containing salts, proteins, enzymes and cells. Generally, the mechanical properties of implants and implant materials are characterized under single step loading conditions in Ringer's solution. A possible influence of the higher complexity of the in vivo conditions comprising the mechanical loading pattern as well as the chemical-biological environment on fatigue life, cyclic deformation behaviour as well as crack formation and growth have hardly been considered yet. Despite the physio-logical and mechanical relevance, microstructural investigations of the cyclic deformation behaviour of implant alloys under variable amplitude loading in the crack free fatigue state have scarcely been performed up to now.The mechanical properties of titanium and its alloys are strongly influenced by the microstructure which can be adjusted in a wide variety by thermomechanical treatments. Former work mainly treated different aspects related to fatigue life. [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] The influence of microstructural parameters, different surface treatments, loading conditions, corrosive media and temperatures on the fatigue strength and crack growth behaviour were hereby of main interest. For implant materials, the fatigue behaviour in physiological media is of prime interest. Rotating bending tests on specimens of TiAl5Fe2.5 in laboratory air and oxygen saturated Ringer's solution showed no influence of the corrosive medium on fatigue life. [9] Decreasing the oxygen content of the solution, however, resulted in a decrease in the bearable surface stress amplitudes for higher fatigue lives and corresponding longer exposure to the corrosive medium.In the present work, as a first step towards more complex testing conditions with respect to the mechanical loading pattern as well as the biological-chemical environment, the cyclic deformation behaviour of TiAl6V4 was characterized in single step rotating bending and axial variable amplitude tests.Materials and methods: Cylindrical specimens were produced from warm and subsequently cold drawn rods of the binary titanium alloy TiAl6V4. The fine equiaxed microstructure meets the requirements of DIN ISO 5832 for the use as implant material (Fig. 1). Rotating bending and axial fatigue specimens were made from rods of two different charges with diameters of 8 mm and 12 mm, respectively. The surfaces of both types of specimens were mechanically p...