Effects of Plasma Nitriding on Microstructure and Tribological Properties of CoCrMo Alloy Implant Materials

Medical forged CoCrMo alloy was treated by plasma nitriding process.The microstructures were characterized by 3Dprofiler,SEM and XRD.The tribological properties were investigated under lubrication of 25% bovine serum solution.Resultsshow that plasma nitriding is a promising process to produce thick,hard,and more wear resistant layers on the surface of CoCrMoalloy.All nitrided samples showed an important increase in the surface hardness due to the formation of harder CrN andCrN phases with compact nano-crystalline structures.The typical hardness values of HVincreased almost two times thanuntreated one.Under bovine serum lubrication,at low nitriding temperature the Coefficient of Friction (COF) of nitrided samplewas lower than that of untreated sample,but at high nitriding temperature the COF was almost the same as the untreated one.Compared with the untreated sample,the nitrided samples showed lower wear rates and higher wear resistance under differentnitriding temperatures.The adhesive wear is the main mechanism for untreated CoCrMo alloy and the wear mechanisms ofnitrided ones are the fatigue wear and slight adhesive wear.It is concluded that the improvement of wear resistance is ascribed tothe hard nitride formation of CrN and CrN phases at the nitrided surfaces.

Microstructure and Tribological Properties of Plasma Nitriding Cast CoCrMo Alloy

A medical cast CoCrMo alloy was coated by plasma nitriding process to enhance the wear resistance. The microstructures, phases and micro-hardness of nitrided layers were investigated by atomic force microscopy （AFM）, scanning electron microscopy （SEM）, X-ray diffraction （XRD） and micro-hardness. Tribological prop- erties were investigated on a pin-on-disc wear tester under 25% bovine serum solutions. The experimental results showed that plasma nitriding was a promising process to produce thick, hard and wear resistant layers on the surface of CoCrMo alloy. The harder CrN and Cr2N phases formed on the plasma nitrided layer with the compact nano-crystalline structure. Compared with the untreated sample, all nitrided samples showed the lower wear rates and higher wear resistance at different applied loads and nitriding temperatures. It was concluded that the improvement of wear resistance could be ascribed to the formation of thicker and harder nitrided layers with the specific microstructures on nitrided surfaces.

Influence of Doping Ions on the Antibacterial Activity of Biomimetic Coating on CoCrMo Alloy

In this study biomimetic fluoridated phosphate doped hydrophilic coatings with various ions on CoCrMo alloy were pre- pared by electrodeposition. Cu and Zn ions were chosen for doping because of their well known antibacterial activity. The struc^xes of the coatings were identified using Fourier-transform Infrared （FTIR） analysis. X-ray Diffraction （XRD） analysis was performed to evaluate crystallite dimensions of the specimen surface. The contact angle was measured in order to establish the hydrophilic/hydrophobic balance and to compute surface energy. All studied samples have a hydrophilic character which is weaken after doping. The time evolution of ions releasing from the coatings was evaluated with an inductively plasma mass spectrometer after immersion in saline phosphate. The hemolytic experiments indicate that except the fluoridated coatings doped with Zn which is slightly hemolytic, all other samples are non hemolytic. The test for antibacterial activity for Staphy- lococcus aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa indicated that the fluoridated biomimetic coating doped with various positive ions increases bacterial growth inhibition level significantly. Fluoridated phosphate coating doped with Cu has best antibacterial activity

Microstructure and mechanical properties of Co-28Cr-6Mo-0.22C investment castings by current solution treatment

This study examined the impact of current solution treatment on the microstructure and mechanical properties of the Co-28Cr-6Mo-0.22C alloy investment castings.The findings reveal that the current solution treatment significantly promotes the dissolution of carbides at a lower temperature.The optimal conditions for solution treatment are determined as a solution temperature of 1,125°C and a holding time of 5.0 min.Under these parameters,the size and volume fraction of precipitated phases in the investment castings are measured as6.2μm and 1.1vol.%.The yield strength,ultimate tensile strength,and total elongation of the Co-28Cr-6Mo-0.22C investment castings are 535 MPa,760 MPa,and 12.6%,respectively.These values exceed those obtained with the conventional solution treatment at 1,200°C for 4.0 h.The findings suggest a phase transformation of M_(23)C_(6)→σ+C following the current solution treatment at 1,125°C for 5.0 min.In comparison,the traditional solution treatment at 1,200°C for 4.0 h leads to the formation of M_(23)C_(6)and M_(6)C carbides.It is noteworthy that the non-thermal effect of the current during the solution treatment modifies the free energy of both the matrix and precipitation phase.This modification lowers the phase transition temperature of the M_(23)C_(6)→σ+C reaction,thereby facilitating the dissolution of carbides.As a result,the current solution treatment approach achieves carbide dissolution at a lower temperature and within a significantly shorter time when compared to the traditional solution treatment methods.

Microstructural features of biomedical cobalt–chromium–molybdenum(CoCrMo) alloy from powder bed fusion to aging heat treatment

The design freedom of powder bed fusion process selective laser melting(SLM)enables flexibility to manufacture customized,geometrically complex medical implants directly from the CAD models.Cobased alloys have adequate wear and corrosion resistance,fatigue strength,and biocompatibility,which enables the alloys to be widely used in medical devices.This work aims to investigate the evolution of microstructures and their influence on tribological property of CoCrMo alloy processed by SLM and aging heat treatment.The results showed that very weak<110>texture along the building direction and microsegregation along cellular boundaries were produced.The presence of high residual stress and fine cellular dendrite structure has a pronounced hardening effect on the as-SLM and aging-treated alloys at moderate temperatures.Furthermore,the hexagonalεphase transformed from theγmatrix during SLM became significant after subsequent aging at moderate temperatures,which further increased the nanohardness and scratch resistance.High temperature(1150℃)heating caused homogenized recrystallization microstructure free of residual stress andεphase,which sharply decreased the hardness and scratch resistance.The material parallel to the building direction exhibited improved tribological property in both SLMed and aging-treated alloy than that of the material perpendicular to the building direction.The anisotropy in frictional performance may be considered when designing CoCrMo dental implants using laser additive manufacturing.