Page 78 - MSAM-2-4

Materials Science in

Additive Manufacturing

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE
An exploratory study on biocompatible

Ti-6Mn-4Mo alloy manufactured by directed
energy deposition

Roman Savinov , Yachao Wang , and Jing Shi *
1
1
2
1 Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio,
United States of America
2 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, North Dakota,
United States of America

Abstract

Titanium is a widely used metal in biomedical applications due to its low toxicity, but its
mechanical properties need to be tailored for different applications. Efforts are called
for to search for effective and yet non-toxic elements to be alloyed with Ti to improve
its strength. Fitting in this category, Mn and Mo are two such alloying elements. In
this study, Ti-6Mn-4Mo alloy was manufactured by laser-directed energy deposition
(DED) through in situ alloying of Ti, Mn, and Mo elemental powders. This study was
intended to not only demonstrate for the first time the printability of the Ti-Mn-Mo
ternary system by laser DED but also investigate the basic mechanical properties
and corrosion resistance of the obtained alloy. Under the as-built condition, the alloy
consisted mainly of ß phase, while after heat treatment it was transformed into α
*Corresponding author: phase. The average ultimate tensile strength under as-built condition was 706.0 MPa,
Jing Shi
(jing.shi@uc.edu) lower than similar alloys from conventional methods. However, the average hardness
reached 421.1 HV for the as-built condition, much higher than the similar alloys made
Citation: Savinov R, Wang Y, through conventional methods. On the other hand, the corrosion resistance of the
Shi J, 2023, An exploratory study
on biocompatible Ti-6Mn-4Mo alloy obtained alloy was found to be relatively low compared to similar alloys produced
manufactured by directed energy with traditional methods. In addition, heat treatment was not able to significantly
deposition. Mater Sci Add Manuf, change the tensile properties or the corrosion resistance. In essence, the exploratory
2(4): 2180.
https://doi.org/10.36922/msam.2180 study indicates that the DED-produced Ti-Mn-Mo alloy could be deposited without
cracks and major voids, and shows that its high hardness and modulus are attractive
Received: November 6, 2023
to applications for high wear resistance. However, further investigation is needed to
Accepted: November 24, 2023 improve strength, ductility, and corrosion resistance of the alloy.
Published Online: December 8,
2023
Keywords: Ti-Mn-Mo alloys; Laser-directed energy deposition; Tensile properties;
Copyright: © 2023 Author(s). Hardness; In situ alloying
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution
License, permitting distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, 1. Introduction
provided the original work is
properly cited. To be suited for biomedical applications, metal alloys should possess certain properties.
Publisher’s Note: AccScience The alloys should be nontoxic, non-carcinogenic, and ideally highly resistant to wear
Publishing remains neutral with and corrosion. To date, the most used metallic biomaterials have been stainless steels,
regard to jurisdictional claims in [1]
published maps and institutional Co-Cr alloys, and Ti-based alloys . Stainless steels are often used due to their corrosion
affiliations. resistance and relatively low price. Co-Cr alloys are hard and wear-resistant metals and

Volume 2 Issue 4 (2023) 1 https://doi.org/10.36922/msam.2180