Laser processing of in situ TiN/Ti composite coating on titanium.

Laser remelting of commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) surface was done in a nitrogen rich inert atmosphere to form in situ TiN/Ti composite coating. Laser surface remelting was performed at two different laser powers of 425 W and 475 W. At each power, samples were fabricated with one or two laser scans. The resultant material was a nitride rich in situ coating that was created on the surface. The cross sections revealed a graded microstructure. There was presence of nitride rich dendrites dispersed in α-Ti matrix at the uppermost region. The structure gradually changed with lesser dendrites and more heat affected α-Ti phase maintaining a smooth interface. With increasing laser power, the dendrites appeared to be larger in size. Samples with two laser scans showed discontinuous dendrites and more α-Ti phase as compared to the samples with one laser scan. The resultant composite of TiN along with Ti2N in α-Ti showed substantially higher hardness and wear resistance than the untreated CP-Ti substrate. Coefficient of friction was also found to reduce due to surface nitridation. Leaching of Ti(4+) ions during wear test in DI water medium was found to reduce due to laser surface nitriding.