The paper compares the coatings produced by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO) on commercially pure titanium and a novel superelastic alloy Ti-18Zr-15Nb (at. %) for implant applications. The PEO coatings were produced on both alloys in the identical pulsed bipolar regime. The properties of the coatings were examined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The PEO process kinetics was modeled based on the Avrami theorem and Cottrell equation using a relaxation method. The resultant coatings contain TiO2, for both alloys, and NbO2, Nb2O5, ZrO2 for Ti-18Zr-15Nb alloy. The coating on the Ti-18Zr-15Nb alloy has a higher thickness, porosity, and roughness compared to that on cp-Ti. The values of the kinetic coefficients of the PEO process—higher diffusion coefficient and lower time constant for the processing of Ti-18Zr-15Nb—explain this effect. According to the electrochemical studies, PEO coatings on Ti-18Zr-15Nb alloy provide better corrosion protection. Higher corrosion resistance, porosity, and roughness contribute to better biocompatibility of the PEO coating on Ti-18Zr-15Nb alloy compared to cp-Ti.
Increasing the yield stress of twinning-induced plasticity (TWIP) steels is a demanding task for modern materials science. This aim can be achieved by microstructure refinement induced by heavy straining. We feature the microstructural evolution and mechanical performance of a high-manganese TWIP steel subjected to deformation treatment by different combinations of equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and rolling at different temperatures. The effect of microstructure on the tensile properties of the steel subjected to the multi-pass ECAP process and to subsequent rolling is reported as well. We show that the combined deformation procedure allows us to further increase the strength of the processed workpieces due to a gradual transition from a banded structure to a heterogeneous hierarchical microstructure consisting of fragments, dislocation configurations and nano- and micro-twins colonies. Rolling of multi-pass ECAP specimens at 375 °C allowed us to achieve an extraordinary strength, the highest among all the investigated cases, while the best trade-off between yield strength and elongation to failure was reached using multi-pass ECAP followed by rolling at 500 °C. This study shows a great potential of using combined deformation techniques to enhance the mechanical performance of TWIP steels.
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