Enhanced Wear and Corrosion Performances of Titanium Parts Fabricated by SLM Using Near‐Spherical Powder for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Herein, commercially pure titanium parts (CP‐Ti) are fabricated successfully by laser powder bed fusion using cost‐effective ball milling (BM) near‐spherical powder. The hardness, microstructure, wear, and corrosion performances of BM‐Ti parts are investigated systemically. The microstructure of the fabricated BM‐Ti sample consists of α′ phase. Compared with the sample fabricated using gas‐atomized (GA) spherical powder, the BM‐Ti sample exhibits higher hardness (354 HV vs 240 HV) due to grain refinement. Owing to the formation of a denser oxide film and finger gain, BM‐Ti exhibits a higher corrosion resistance than that of GA‐Ti and forged Ti–6Al–4 V alloy. Under the same load, taking 2 N for example, the BM‐Ti sample exhibits a lower wear rate (1.03 × 10−12 m3 N−1 m−1) than that of the GA‐Ti sample (1.75 × 10−12 m3 N−1 m−1), and comparable to the forged Ti–6Al–4 V alloy (0.84 × 10−12 m3 N−1 m−1). The wear mechanism of the BM‐Ti sample and forged Ti–6Al–4 V alloy is abrasive wear accompanied by adhesion, while the mechanism for the GA‐Ti sample is a combination of delamination and adhesion wear. Together, enhanced wear and corrosion performances of CP‐Ti fabricated using low‐cost BM near‐spherical powder widen its applications in the fields of biomedical further.