Title: Optimisation of wear behaviour of heat treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy by response surface methodology

Authors: S. Thirumalvalavan; P. Malliga

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, India; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Arunai Engineering College, Tiruvannamalai, India ' Department of Industrial Engineering, CEG Campus, Anna University, Chennai, India

Abstract: Titanium alloys are extensively used in various fields of engineering, medicine, aerospace and marine due to their excellent mechanical properties. The response of the Ti alloys for its wear resistance is very poor. In this research the wear behaviour of the Ti alloys is improved by the heat treatment process. In this research, the implant material is subjected to heat treatment above its transformation temperature (950°C) followed by cooling in furnace. These specimens were further aged at 550°C for three hours and then water quenched. The property of poor wear resistance can be improved by changing the microstructure of the alloy where the formation martensitic structure (acicular α or retained β) is resulted. The wear test was conducted using the pin-on-disk, with varying parameters of the applied load (10-50 N), speed (100-500 rpm) and time (5-25 min). Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) exhibit the wear scars and worn surfaces of the tested specimens. The optimum parameters were optimised by the response surface methodology and some useful conclusions were made.

Keywords: Ti-6Al-4V; heat treatment; hardness; wear test; optimisation by RSM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMPT.2017.084952

International Journal of Materials and Product Technology, 2017 Vol.55 No.1/2/3, pp.44 - 55

Received: 19 Apr 2016
Accepted: 25 Nov 2016

Published online: 09 Jul 2017 *

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