Investigation on surface roughness and hardness of β-Ti alloy by ball burnishing assisted electrical discharge cladding for bio-medical applications

In the current study, a comparative study on the surface modification of β-Phase titanium alloy has been carried out using electric discharge machining (EDM) and ball burnishing assisted electrical discharge cladding (BB-EDC) process to improve the surface hardness and surface finish for the potential use of biomedical implants. The surface characteristics of Edmed and BB-EDC modified surface has been investigated. The effect of EDM and BB-EDC process parameters such as peak-current, pulse-duration and supply-voltage on the surface roughness and micro-hardness has been studied. The roughness was measured using a surface profilometer and surface hardness was measured using Vicker’s micro-hardness tester. The results show that BB-EDC modified surface exhibits high surface hardness and low surface roughness as compared with EDMed surface at any parametric condition. The in the case of BB-EDC, the maximum surface hardness (848HV) and minimum surface roughness (0.56 µm) were obtained at 5A peak current, 50 µs pulse duration, and 60 V supply voltage. Moreover, the recast layer obtained after BB-EDC process was flat and smooth with 10–15 µm thickness. The obtained surface from BB-EDC process was free from defects and can be used for biomedical implant application.