Laser Nitriding of the Newly Developed Ti-20Nb-13Zr at.% Biomaterial Alloy to Enhance Its Mechanical and Corrosion Prope
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JMEPEG DOI: 10.1007/s11665-017-2955-5
Laser Nitriding of the Newly Developed Ti-20Nb-13Zr at.% Biomaterial Alloy to Enhance Its Mechanical and Corrosion Properties in Simulated Body Fluid M.A. Hussein, A. Madhan Kumar, Bekir S. Yilbas, and N. Al-Aqeeli (Submitted May 3, 2017; in revised form August 7, 2017) Despite the widespread application of Ti alloy in the biomedical field, surface treatments are typically applied to improve its resistance to corrosion and wear. A newly developed biomedical Ti-20Nb-13Zr at.% alloy (TNZ) was laser-treated in nitrogen environment to improve its surface characteristics with corrosion protection performance. Surface modification of the alloy by laser was performed through a Nd:YAG laser. The structural and surface morphological alterations in the laser nitrided layer were investigated by XRD and a FE-SEM. The mechanical properties have been evaluated using nanoindentation for laser nitride and as-received samples. The corrosion protection behavior was estimated using electrochemical corrosion analysis in a physiological medium (SBF). The obtained results revealed the production of a dense and compact film of TiN fine grains (micro-/nanosize) with 9.1 lm below the surface. The mechanical assessment results indicated an improvement in the modulus of elasticity, hardness, and resistance of the formed TiN layer to plastic deformation. The electrochemical analysis exhibited that the surface protection performance of the laser nitrided TNZ substrates in the SBF could be considerably enhanced compared to that of the as-received alloy due to the presence of fine grains in the TiN layer resulting from laser nitriding. Furthermore, the untreated and treated Ti-20Nb-13Zr alloy exhibited higher corrosion resistance than the CpTi and Ti6Al4V commercial alloys. The improvements in the surface hardness and corrosion properties of Ti alloy in a simulated body obtained using laser nitriding make this approach a suitable candidate for enhancing the properties of biomaterials. Keywords
biomaterial, corrosion, laser treatment, simulated body fluid, titanium alloy
1. Introduction Titanium (Ti) and its alloy have been commonly utilized in several biomedical fields, for example orthopedics, implants, and dentistry, due to their preferred biocompatibility and higher resistance to corrosion (Ref 1, 2). However, Ti implants fail due to the reduced resistance to wear, and corrosion (Ref 3, 4), which causes the creation of wear debris. Wear debris may cause an inflammatory reaction and result in an implant loss due to osteolysis (Ref 5-7). Therefore, various types of surface modifications and surface treatments have been applied to enhance the surface structure, composition, resistance to wear and corrosion (Ref 4), and biocompatibility (Ref 8). Laser surface modification, physical vapor deposition (PVD), chemical coating have been used to improve the wear M.A. Hussein, Center of Research Excellence in Corrosion, Research Institute, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia
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