Preparation of Wear-Resistant Coating on Ti6Al4V Alloy by Cold Spraying and Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation

Abstract

In order to improve the wear resistance of Ti6Al4V alloy, the alloy was first coated with alumina-reinforced aluminum coating (CS-coating) by cold spraying, and then the alloy with CS-coating was processed by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) under unipolar mode and soft sparking mode, respectively, to prepare wear-resistant PEO coatings. For comparison, Ti6Al4V alloy without CS-coating was also subjected to PEO treatment. The microstructure, phase composition, hardness, and wear resistance of the PEO coatings formed on Ti6Al4V alloy with and without CS-coating were investigated. The results revealed that PEO coatings formed on Ti6Al4V alloy with CS-coating under soft sparking mode contained more α-Al2O3, possessed larger thickness, more compact microstructure, and higher microhardness than that formed under unipolar mode. The PEO coating formed on Ti6Al4V substrate was mainly composed of TiO2 and had pores and cracks. Among all these coatings, PEO coating formed on Ti6Al4V alloy with CS-coating under soft sparking mode exhibited the best wear resistance with a wear rate of 1.18 × 10−5 mm3/(Nm), which was only 15.28% of that of the Ti6Al4V substrate. The investigation indicated that the combination of cold spraying and PEO under soft sparking mode is a promising technique for improving the wear resistance of titanium alloy.