title: Tribological behavior of Ti6Al4V cellular structures produced by Selective Laser Melting.
abstract: Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies enable the fabrication of innovative structures with complex geometries not easily manufactured by traditional processes. Regarding metallic cellular structures with tailored/customized mechanical and wear performance aiming to biomedical applications, Selective Laser Melting (SLM) is a remarkable solution for their production. Focusing on prosthesis and implants, in addition to a suitable Young's modulus it is important to assess the friction response and wear resistance of these cellular structures in a natural environment. In this sense, five cellular Ti6Al4V structures with different open-cell sizes (100-500µm) were designed and produced by SLM. These structures were tribologicaly tested against alumina using a reciprocating sliding ball-on-plate tribometer. Samples were submerged in Phosphate Buffered Saline (PBS) fluid at 37°C, in order to mimic in some extent the human body environment. The results showed that friction and wear performance of Ti6Al4V cellular structures is influenced by the structure open-cell size. The higher wear resistance was obtained for structures with 100µm designed open-cell size due to the higher apparent area of contact to support tribological loading.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal. Electronic address: flaviojorgebartolomeu@gmail.com.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bartolomeu
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sampaio
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Rua General Norton de Matos, Apartado 4133, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.affiliation: Centre for Rapid and Sustainable Product Development Polytechnic Institute of Leiria, Rua General Norton de Matos, Apartado 4133, 2411-901 Leiria, Portugal.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Alves
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: F S
authors.initials: FS
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.affiliation: Centre for Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (CMEMS-UMinho), University of Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Miranda
mesh_terms: D000497:Alloys; D055119:Elastic Modulus; D017276:Friction; D006801:Humans; D007834:Lasers; D008422:Materials Testing; D019736:Prostheses and Implants; D013499:Surface Properties; D014025:Titanium / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000497:Alloys; C031462:titanium alloy (TiAl6V4); D014025:Titanium
keywords: Cellular structures; Friction; Selective Laser Melting (SLM); Ti6Al4V; Wear