An investigation on the wear resistance and fatigue behaviour of Ti-6Al-4V notched members coated with hydroxyapatite coatings

Abstract

In this study, surface properties of Ti-6Al-4V alloy coated with hydroxyapatite coatings were investigated. Wear resistance and fatigue behaviour of samples with coating thicknesses of 10 and 50 μm as well as uncoated samples were examined. Wear experiments demonstrated that the friction factor of the uncoated titanium decreased from 0.31 to 0.06, through a fluctuating trend, after 50 cycles of wear tests. However, the friction factor of both the coated samples (10 and 50 μm) gradually decreased from 0.20 to 0.12 after 50 cycles. At the end of the 50th cycle, the penetration depth of the 10 and 50 μm coated samples were 7.69 and 6.06 μm, respectively. Fatigue tests showed that hydroxyapatite coatings could improve fatigue life of a notched Ti-6Al-4V member in both low and high cycle fatigue zones. It was understood, from fractography of the fracture surfaces, that the fatigue zone of the uncoated specimens was generally smaller in comparison with that of the coated specimens. No significant difference was observed between the fatigue life of coated specimens with 10 and 50 μm thicknesses.