Effect of micro shot peening on the mechanical properties and corrosion behavior of two microstructure Ti–6Al–4V alloy

Abstract

Titanium alloys continue to be used extensively for the fabrication of surgical implants due to their excellent mechanical, physical and biological performance. The surface modification is the main technique to maintain a relatively good mechanical properties and biocompatibility. In this study, a surface modification through micro shot peening (SP) using different ceramic shot (850, 450 and 125–250μm) at 0.22mmA have been done on two microstructures Ti–6Al–4V alloy. The effect of this treatment on the corrosion behavior, surface roughness, microhardness profiles, and residual stresses were investigated. In addition, the corrosion behavior of the ultra-fine grain of Ti–6Al–4V materials produced by rotary swaging (RS) deformation has been investigated and compared with the duplex (DU) and globular (GL) microstructures. The corrosion behavior was studied using potentiodynamic polarization and electro impedance spectroscopy techniques. The electrochemical tests were performed in Ringer's solution at 37°C. The results show that shot peening resulted in near-surface maximum hardness and residual stresses values. Increasing the shot size led to a lower surface roughness and an improved corrosion resistance. However, SP reduces the corrosion resistance compared with the untreated materials. The globular microstructure shows high corrosion rate compared with the duplex and nanostructured materials.