An Investigation of the Effects of Surface Treatment on the
Fatigue Property of Titanium Alloy for Femoral Stem and
Bone Fracture Fixation
Volume 3 - Issue 3
Eric Dimla1*, Namasivayam Navaranjan2, Nur Bazilah Rasyiqah Bte Abu Bakar2 and Nurafiqah Binti Mohd Ariffin2
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- 1School of Science and Technology, RMIT Vietnam, Nguyen Van Linh, Vietnam
- 2University of Teknologi Brunei, Jalan Tungku Link, Gadong, Brunei Darussalam
*Corresponding author:
Eric Dimla, School of Science and Technology, RMIT Vietnam, 702 Nguyen Van Linh, District 7, Ho Chi Minh
City, Vietnam
Received: September 09, 2020; Published: September 23, 2020
DOI: 10.32474/MAMS.2020.03.000161
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Abstract
Titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V) is used for medical prosthetic devices and implants. This study investigated the effect of three types of surface treatments on fatigue and tensile properties of the metal. Representative samples were treated using polishing and chemical passivation using hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid. The surfaces of the treated and untreated samples were observed under an optical microscope and then the samples were subjected to tensile and tensile-fatigue tests using an Instron Servo-Hydraulic machine. The mechanically polished samples had 17% higher fatigue life than untreated samples. In contrast, the hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid treated samples had 5% and 7% lower fatigue life than untreated samples, respectively. Etched grain boundaries were observed on the surface of treated samples. It was concluded that when the samples were subjected to cyclic tensile load, the etched grain boundaries acted as crack initiation points and resulted in low fatigue life. Mechanical polishing on the other hand removed surface damages that could initiate fatigue failure and thus the polished samples had higher fatigue life. Hence, chemical passivation using hydrogen peroxide and nitric acid was unfavorable while polishing was favorable for enhancing fatigue life of the titanium alloy.
Keywords: Fatigue; titanium alloy; surface treatment; biomaterials
Abbreviations: MRI: Magnetic Resonance Imaging; HCF: High Cycle Fatigue; LCF: Low Cycle Fatigue
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