Effects of feedstock powder on wear, corrosion, and tribocorrosion performances of Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V fabricated by additive manufacturing

In this study, corrosion-erosion performances of Ti-6.5Al-2Zr-1Mo-1V fabricated using two different feedstocks namely gas-atomized (GA) spherical powder and modified hydride-dehydrated (HDH) powder in the PBS solutions were investigated. Results show that the LPBF-ed modified HDH parts exhibit higher corrosion, wear, and tribocorrosion properties than that of LPBF-ed GA and forged samples, such as the wear rates of LPBF-ed modified HDH reduced by about 10 % under both pure mechanical wear and tribocorrosion conditions. This is primarily due to the ultrafine-grain α′ phase formed. Additionally, singular and fine α′ phase in LPBF-ed modified HDH also mitigates galvanic corrosion typically observed in α+β Ti alloys, thereby further boosting its corrosion resistance. Furthermore, compared with the GA powder, the cost of modified HDH powder was reduced by 58 % (50 vs. 120 $/kg). Cost-effective raw materials together with an excellent combination of corrosion-erosion properties make LPBF-ed modified HDH exhibit broad application.