Electrochemical and in vitro behavior of the nanosized composites of Ti-6Al-4V and TiO2 fabricated by friction stir process

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 423; pp. 331 - 339
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chengjian, Ding, Zihao, Xie, Lechun, Zhang, Lai-Chang, Wu, Laizhi, Fu, Yuanfei, Wang, Liqiang, Lu, Weijie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 30-11-2017
• Subjects: Biocompatibility; Composites layer; Corrosion resistance; Friction stir process; Hardness; Ti-6Al-4V; Corrosion resistance; Composites layer; Biocompatibility; Hardness; Ti-6Al-4V; Friction stir process
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2017.06.141

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•Friction stir process fabricates a rough and nanosized composite layer on the surface of Tit-6Al-4V alloy.•The composite layer is composed of mainly Ti-6Al-4V and TiO2.•The surface microhardness of composites is greatly improved.•The alloy after friction stir process exhibits enhanced cell adhesion and proliferation.•The composite layer shows an increase of corrosion potential.
Although Ti-6Al-4V has been widely used in biomaterial field. Compared with other classes of materials, it still encounters some problems such as low surface hardness and relative low biocompatibility. To solve these problems friction stir processing (FSP) was applied to fabricate a nanosized composite layer of TiO2 and Ti-6Al-4V. Uniform distribution of TiO2 particles with some clusters on the surface of alloy can be observed. Due to severe plastic deformation and stirring heat, nanocrystallines and amorphous TiO2 can be observed in stir zone. FSPed samples show significant improvement in surface microhardness and biocompatibility due to its modified structure compared with original sample. In addition, through corrosion behaviors of the samples in simulated body fluid, it is found that FSP can enhance whilst TiO2 reduces the possibility and corrosion rate of material in environment of human body.