Effect of heat treatment on the corrosion resistance of selective laser melted Ti6Al4V3Cu alloy
By Li, Liu; Chen, Yunxiang; Lu, Yanjin; Qin, Sijie; Huang, Gonghao; Huang, Tingting; Lin, Jinxin
Published in Journal of Materials Research and Technology
2021
Abstract
Recently, selective laser melting (SLM) technology has been broadly used in medical application because it is suitable for the fabrication of personalized implants. However, it is well accepted that the parts produced by SLM with unique microstructure would affect the corrosion resistance, which may result in the release of metal ions and further induce peri-implantitis. In this work, self-developed Ti6Al4V3Cu gas-atomized powders with antibacterial property were fabricated for SLM technology. The differing heat treatments were applied to SLM-produced Ti6Al4V3Cu alloys to address the microstructure to improve the corrosion resistance. The microstructure of the Ti6Al4V3Cu alloys with heat treatment was investigated to insight into the relationship between evolved microstructure and their corrosion behavior. The corrosion behavior of the Ti6Al4V3Cu alloys was studied in terms of the electrochemical and static immersion test. The microstructural characterization depicted that the formation of the equilibrium structure with increasing the grain size and releasing residual stress was observed when elevated heat temperature. The corrosion test suggested that the Ti6Al4V3Cu alloys heated at 760 °C for 2 h ameliorated the corrosion resistance. The results indicated that a proper heat treatment is an efficient strategy for improving the corrosion resistance of Ti6Al4V3Cu alloys.