Andries Mthisi

The study of laser cladding of 90Ti-10Al₂O₃, 90Ti-8Al₂O₃-2Zn and 90Ti-4Al₂O₃-6Zn coatings onto Ti-6Al-4V alloy, with intention to produce defect-less, high microhardness and wear resistant coating was carried out. The coatings were deposited onto Ti-6Al-4V alloy at 900 W laser power and 0.6 m/min laser scan speed. Microstructures and phase constituents of the developed coatings were investigated by using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffractometer correspondingly. Vickers microhardness tester and pin-on-disk tribometer were employed to characterize microhardness and wear behaviour of the Ti-Al₂O₃/Zn coatings respectively. SEM was also used to examine the worn track. It was observed that 90Ti-10Al₂O₃ coating yielded optimal microhardness along with maximal wear resistance in comparison to the other coatings and Ti-6Al-4V alloy. It has been established that laser cladding of Ti-Al₂O₃ coating with Zn contents on Ti-6Al-4V alloy alleviates the formation of cracks, however, microhardness and wear properties are negatively affected.

The indispensable properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy coupled with poor tribological properties and delayed bioactivity make it a subject of interest to explore in biomedical application. A quite number of numerous coatings have been employed on titanium alloys, with aim to overcome the poor properties exhibited by this alloy. In this work, the possibility of laser cladding different ad-mixed powders (Ti - 5 wt.% Al₂O₃ and Ti - 8wt.% Al₂O₃) on Ti-6Al-4V at various laser scan speed (0.6 and 0.8 m/min) were investigated. The microstructure, phase constituents and corrosion of the resultant coatings were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Optical microscope, X-Ray diffractometer (XRD) and potentiostat respectively. The electrochemical behaviour of the produced coatings was studied in a simulated body fluid (Hanks solution). The microstructural results show that a defect free coating is achieved at low scan speed and ad-mixed of Ti-5 wt. % Al₂O₃. Cladding of Ti - Al₂O₃ improved the corrosion resistance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy regardless of varying neither scan speed nor ad-mixed percentage. However, Ti-5 wt.% Al₂O₃ coating produced at low scan speed revealed the highest corrosion resistance among the coatings due to better quality coating layer. Henceforth, this coating may be suitable for biomedical applications.