Nanoindentation and wear properties of Ti and Ti-TiB composite materials produced by selective laser melting

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. A, Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing Structural materials : properties, microstructure and processing, 2017-03, Vol.688, p.20-26
• Main Authors: Attar, H., Ehtemam-Haghighi, S., Kent, D., Okulov, I.V., Wendrock, H., Bӧnisch, M., Volegov, A.S., Calin, M., Eckert, J., Dargusch, M.S.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Composite materials; Compression tests; Elastic properties; Hardness; Laser beam melting; Lasers; Materials selection; Mechanical properties; Mechanical property; Melting; Modulus of elasticity; Nanoindentation; Particulate composites; Selective laser melting; Stiffening; Titanium; Titanium material; Wear; Wear tests
• ISSN: 0921-5093; 1873-4936
• DOI: 10.1016/j.msea.2017.01.096

Ti and Ti-TiB composite materials were produced by selective laser melting (SLM). Ti showed an α΄ microstructure, whereas the Ti-TiB composite revealed a distribution of needle-like TiB particles across an α-Ti matrix. Hardness (H) and reduced elastic modulus (Er) were investigated by nanoindentation using loads of 2, 5 and 10 mN. The results showed higher H and Er values for the Ti-TiB than Ti due to the hardening and stiffening effects of the TiB reinforcements. On increasing the nanoindentation load, H and Er were decreased. Comparison of the nanoindentation results with those derived from conventional hardness and compression tests indicated that 5 mN is the most suitable nanoindentation load to assess the elastic modulus and hardness properties. The wear resistance of the samples was related to their corresponding H/Er and H3/Er2 ratios obtained by nanoindentation. These investigations showed that there is a high degree of consistency between the characterization using nanoindentation and the wear evaluation from conventional wear tests.