Abstract
In this work, sample study was done on the characterisation of Ti-10%Mo powder metal produced via LMD. Different process parameters were employed for the LMD process. The laser power was varied between 1kW and 2.2kW while keeping all other parameters constant. The scanning speed of 0.5m/sec, powder flow rate of pure titanium 1.8g/min and the powder flow rate of molybdenum 2g/min. were used for the coatings. The process parameters were carefully selected to represent low, medium and high settings.
The characterisations carried out include optical microscopy and Scanning Electron Microscopy combined with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (SEM/EDS) techniques to investigate the particle distribution, microstructural evolution and chemical analysis of the welded samples. Vickers microhardness was used to determine the hardness distribution of the coating Ti6Al4V/Ti-Mo, the dry sliding wear tests were carried out on the deposited Ti6Al4V/Ti-Mo samples to determine the sliding wear of samples and corrosion tests was used to obtain information on the corrosion behavior of Ti6Al4V/Ti-Mo in 3.5% NaCl solution.
The characterised laser metal deposited Ti6Al4V and Ti-Mo, revealed that the varied laser power played a main part in the microstructural evolution. It was found that the formation of the Widmanstӓtten structures improved the hardness of Ti6Al4V/Ti-Mo. The highest hardness value was found at the top zone of the clad owing to the presence of the reinforcement particles of Ti-Mo, the highest hardness value for all the samples was found at an average of 496HV.
The sample produced at a laser power of 2kW and scanning speed of 0.5m/sec was found to show the lowest percentage of wear volume and the sample produced at laser power of 1.4kW and scanning speed of 0.5m/sec had the lowest percentage of the coefficient of friction; and this outcome can be attributed to the martensitic structure formed during cooling. The results obtained showed that the poor wear behaviour of the titanium alloy has been improved with the addition of Ti-Mo into their lattices.
The experimental results indicated that the corrosion rate of the developed composites decreased significantly with the addition of the Ti-Mo powder. The results obtained from the polarization behavior show a decrease in the polarization resistance. While the open-circuit potential (OCP) for the alloy was found to reduce with time due to oxide film thickening on the metal surface...
M.Ing. (Mechanical Engineering Science)