Effects of Laser Remelting at Cryogenic Conditions on Microstructure and Wear Resistance of the Ti6Al4V Alloy Applied in Medicine

Abstract

The titanium and its alloys can be subjected to surface treatment, including laser treatment. In this work a new laser treatment at cryogenic conditions of Ti6Al4V alloy has been described. The work has been aimed at establishing whether such surface treatment could be suitable for implants working under wear in biological corrosive environment. The remelting has been made with the use of CO2 continuous work laser at laser power between 3 and 6 kW, at scan rate 0.5 and 1 m/s. The microstructure, surface topography, hardness, microhardness and wear linear rate and mass loss under tribological tests made in Ringer`s solution have been made. The results have shown that despite the surface cracking the tribological properties in simulated body fluid have been substantially improved.