Morphology of HA/TC4 Composite Powder for Laser Cladding by Different Ball Milling Processes AITranslate
Abstract AITranslate
Laser cladding deposition technology is often used to prepare various functional coatings due to its advantages of high energy density，small heat affected zone，fast processing speed，and metallurgical bonding between matrix and coating materials. Hydroxyapatite （HA）powder has good biological compatibility and has often been applied to the surface modification of titanium alloy hard tissue implants. However，HA powder has light weight，small particle size，poor dispersion，irregular shape and easy to be affected by moisture，which made it deeply blocked in the process of powder feeding. Ti-6Al-4V （TC4）is a commonly used material for human hard tissue implants，and its powder is generally produced by the plasma rotating electrode-comminuting process. TC4 powder has the advantages of high sphericity and good fluidity，which make it very suitable to feeding in laser cladding deposition. The ball milling is a grinding method that mainly uses balls as the medium and uses impact，extrusion，and friction to achieve material crushing，which has function of grinding and mixing. The purpose of this study was to wrap HA powder around the surface of TC4 powder by ball milling process，and formed a uniformly HA/TC4 powder to easily feeding in laser cladding deposition. Then，the influence of ball milling process parameters on the coating effect of HA/TC4 composite powder was studied，the experimental factors were the ball milling time （5，10，and 15 h），the ball to material ratio （2∶1，2.5∶1，and 3∶1），and the ball milling speed （200，250，and 300 r·min−1），and the mass ratio of HA and TC4 powder was 3∶7. In the ball milling process，HA powder and TC4 powder were broken to small powder，and the broke of HA powder was more apparent by the characteristic of fracture behavior. However，when the two powders were broken to a certain extent，the surface free energy would increase accordingly，and the crushing and the cold welding reached a dynamic equilibrium. At the same time，charge adsorption could make the powder produce charge transfer during the ball milling process，and the surface of the deformed TC4 powder was enriched with electrons，so HA powder could be adsorbed，and HA powder could be in full contact with TC4 powder to improve the binding force between them. When the material ratio was 2.5∶1 and the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，the shorter the ball milling time was，the worse the wrapping effect became. When the ball milling time was 10 h，HA powder was mostly wrapped around TC4 powder. When the milling time was 10 h and the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，the smaller the ball to material ratio was，the worse the wrapping effect became. The larger the ball to material ratio was，the more easily broken. When the ball to material ratio was 2.5∶1，the shape of the composite particles was almost spherical or almost ellipsoidal，HA powder was more uniformly wrapped on TC4 powder，the coating modification effect of the composite particles was appropriate. When the milling time was 10 h and the material ratio was 2.5∶1，the smaller the ball milling speed was，the less obvious the mixing effect became. The higher the ball milling speed was，the more powder adhered to the ball mill tank. When the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，HA powder was more uniformly wrapped on the surface of TC4 powder. So，the optimized ball milling process parameters were as follows：the ball milling time of 10 h，the ball to material ratio of 2.5∶1，and the ball milling speed of 300 r·min−1. Finally，HA/TC4 composite powder was formed，and its size was the limit value under the ball milling process. The wrapping composite powder was prepared by the ball milling process，which solved the problem of difficult feeding of HA powder during the laser cladding deposition，and the transport characteristics of HA powder were improved，so it was beneficial to the laser cladding deposition experiment on the titanium alloy surface. The laser cladding deposition experiment was carried out on TC4 alloy substrate. The different proportions of TC4 powder and HA/TC4 composite powder obtained by the ball milling were mixed in the three-dimensional powder mixer by mechanical rotation，and then HA/TC4 powder of different proportions was obtained. There was a significant difference in the thermal expansion coefficient between TC4 titanium alloy and HA bio-ceramics. Therefore，the crack was reduced by increasing the HA powder layer by layer. According to the principle of approaching thermal expansion coefficient，three mixing ratios were designed. The connecting layer was 10%HA+90%TC4，the middle layer was 20%HA+80%TC4，and the functional layer was 30%HA+70%TC4. HA/TC4 gradient bio-ceramic coating was prepared on the surface of TC4 by using optimized laser cladding deposition parameters. The laser cladding results showed that the gradient coating design reduced the cracking between the coatings. The microstructure of the coating was composed of columnar grain，cellular grain，cellular dendrite，dendrite and isometric grain. The surface phases of HA/TC4 gradient bio-ceramic coating were mainly composed of HA，TiO2，Ca3（PO4）2，CaTiO3，and CaO. These bioactive phases could promote the formation of bone-like apatite at the interface between hard tissue implant and host tissue.
KeyWords AITranslate
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Basic Information:
DOI：10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY23080001
Chinese Library Classification Number:TG148
Citation Information:
Laser cladding deposition technology is often used to prepare various functional coatings due to its advantages of high energy density，small heat affected zone，fast processing speed，and metallurgical bonding between matrix and coating materials. Hydroxyapatite （HA）powder has good biological compatibility and has often been applied to the surface modification of titanium alloy hard tissue implants. However，HA powder has light weight，small particle size，poor dispersion，irregular shape and easy to be affected by moisture，which made it deeply blocked in the process of powder feeding. Ti-6Al-4V （TC4）is a commonly used material for human hard tissue implants，and its powder is generally produced by the plasma rotating electrode-comminuting process. TC4 powder has the advantages of high sphericity and good fluidity，which make it very suitable to feeding in laser cladding deposition. The ball milling is a grinding method that mainly uses balls as the medium and uses impact，extrusion，and friction to achieve material crushing，which has function of grinding and mixing. The purpose of this study was to wrap HA powder around the surface of TC4 powder by ball milling process，and formed a uniformly HA/TC4 powder to easily feeding in laser cladding deposition. Then，the influence of ball milling process parameters on the coating effect of HA/TC4 composite powder was studied，the experimental factors were the ball milling time （5，10，and 15 h），the ball to material ratio （2∶1，2.5∶1，and 3∶1），and the ball milling speed （200，250，and 300 r·min−1），and the mass ratio of HA and TC4 powder was 3∶7. In the ball milling process，HA powder and TC4 powder were broken to small powder，and the broke of HA powder was more apparent by the characteristic of fracture behavior. However，when the two powders were broken to a certain extent，the surface free energy would increase accordingly，and the crushing and the cold welding reached a dynamic equilibrium. At the same time，charge adsorption could make the powder produce charge transfer during the ball milling process，and the surface of the deformed TC4 powder was enriched with electrons，so HA powder could be adsorbed，and HA powder could be in full contact with TC4 powder to improve the binding force between them. When the material ratio was 2.5∶1 and the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，the shorter the ball milling time was，the worse the wrapping effect became. When the ball milling time was 10 h，HA powder was mostly wrapped around TC4 powder. When the milling time was 10 h and the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，the smaller the ball to material ratio was，the worse the wrapping effect became. The larger the ball to material ratio was，the more easily broken. When the ball to material ratio was 2.5∶1，the shape of the composite particles was almost spherical or almost ellipsoidal，HA powder was more uniformly wrapped on TC4 powder，the coating modification effect of the composite particles was appropriate. When the milling time was 10 h and the material ratio was 2.5∶1，the smaller the ball milling speed was，the less obvious the mixing effect became. The higher the ball milling speed was，the more powder adhered to the ball mill tank. When the ball milling speed was 300 r·min−1，HA powder was more uniformly wrapped on the surface of TC4 powder. So，the optimized ball milling process parameters were as follows：the ball milling time of 10 h，the ball to material ratio of 2.5∶1，and the ball milling speed of 300 r·min−1. Finally，HA/TC4 composite powder was formed，and its size was the limit value under the ball milling process. The wrapping composite powder was prepared by the ball milling process，which solved the problem of difficult feeding of HA powder during the laser cladding deposition，and the transport characteristics of HA powder were improved，so it was beneficial to the laser cladding deposition experiment on the titanium alloy surface. The laser cladding deposition experiment was carried out on TC4 alloy substrate. The different proportions of TC4 powder and HA/TC4 composite powder obtained by the ball milling were mixed in the three-dimensional powder mixer by mechanical rotation，and then HA/TC4 powder of different proportions was obtained. There was a significant difference in the thermal expansion coefficient between TC4 titanium alloy and HA bio-ceramics. Therefore，the crack was reduced by increasing the HA powder layer by layer. According to the principle of approaching thermal expansion coefficient，three mixing ratios were designed. The connecting layer was 10%HA+90%TC4，the middle layer was 20%HA+80%TC4，and the functional layer was 30%HA+70%TC4. HA/TC4 gradient bio-ceramic coating was prepared on the surface of TC4 by using optimized laser cladding deposition parameters. The laser cladding results showed that the gradient coating design reduced the cracking between the coatings. The microstructure of the coating was composed of columnar grain，cellular grain，cellular dendrite，dendrite and isometric grain. The surface phases of HA/TC4 gradient bio-ceramic coating were mainly composed of HA，TiO2，Ca3（PO4）2，CaTiO3，and CaO. These bioactive phases could promote the formation of bone-like apatite at the interface between hard tissue implant and host tissue.
quote
| GB/T 7714-2015 | [1] Xueqian Li, Hongli Fan, Xiaoning Yang, et al. Morphology of HA/TC4 Composite Powder for Laser Cladding by Different Ball Milling Processes[J]. Chinese Journal of Rare Metals, 2025, 49(6): 848-858. DOI:10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY23080001. |
| MLA | [1] Xueqian Li, et al., "Morphology of HA/TC4 Composite Powder for Laser Cladding by Different Ball Milling Processes." Chinese Journal of Rare Metals, vol. 49, no. 6, 2025, pp. 848-858, https://doi.org/10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY23080001. |
| APA | [1] Xueqian Li, Hongli Fan, Xiaoning Yang, Rihong Han, & Haibo Qi. (2025). Morphology of HA/TC4 Composite Powder for Laser Cladding by Different Ball Milling Processes. Chinese Journal of Rare Metals, 49(6), 848-858. https://doi.org/10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY23080001 |
| IEEE | [1] Xueqian Li, Hongli Fan, Xiaoning Yang, Rihong Han, and Haibo Qi, "Morphology of HA/TC4 Composite Powder for Laser Cladding by Different Ball Milling Processes," Chinese Journal of Rare Metals, vol. 49, no. 6, pp. 848-858, 2025, doi: 10.13373/j.cnki.cjrm.XY23080001. keywords: {high energy ball mill;hydroxyapatite （HA）powder;titanium alloy powder;laser cladding;gradient coating} |