An investigation of the effect of high-energy milling time of Ti6Al4V biomaterial on the wear performance in the simulated body fluid environment

ABSTRACT

In this study, the effect of milling time on wear behaviour of the Ti6Al4V alloy produced with the high-energy milling method was investigated. The Ti6Al4V alloy was milled at five different milling times in a mechanical alloying device. The milled powders were cold-pressed under 620 MPa pressure, sintered at 1300°C for 2 h and cooled to room temperature in the furnace. The sintered alloys were characterised with SEM, XRD and hardness and density measurements. Wear tests were performed using a pin-on-disc type wear testing device, under three different loads, at four different sliding distances in simulated body fluid environment. Results showed a decreasing powder size with increasing milling time. The highest decline in size occurred for the powders milled for 120 min. The result of hardness measurements and wear tests showed that samples milled for 120 min had both the highest hardness value and the lowest weight loss.

KEYWORDS:

• Ti6Al4V
• biomaterial
• high-energy milling
• milling time
• sintering
• wear
• hardness
• simulated body fluid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

I. Simsek was born on 1985 in Osmaniye, Turkey. She graduated from Karabuk University, Turkey in 2009 and achieved her MSc degree in 2011.

D. Ozyurek was born on 1965 in Karabuk, Turkey, and has recently been appointed as Associative Professor in the Manufacturing Engineering Department of the Technology Faculty at Karabuk University, Turkey. He graduated from Gazi University, Turkey in 1982 and achieved his MSc degree in 1993 and his PhD degree from Gazi University, Turkey in 2002.

Additional information

Funding

The authors are pleased to acknowledge the financial support for this study from Karabuk University Scientific Research Projects Department (KBÜ-BAP-15/2-DR-026).