Effect of surface powder particles and morphologies on corrosion of Ti-6Al-4 V fabricated with different energy densities in selective laser melting

Different energy densities in Selective Laser Melting produce different metallurgical properties of the product surface, which include adhered powder particles, waviness, porosity, and microstructure. In this research, the corrosion behavior of these structural properties was investigated and compared with heat-treated samples. The size and arrays of α'-martensitic varied significantly due to the effects of different cooling rates and the number of effective thermal cycles caused by different scanning speeds and energy densities. The surface particles experienced different thermal effects that significantly changed their microstructure with each other and with respect to the main surface, which remarkably affected the corrosion properties. The densities, hardness, and tensile properties of the samples were also presented and interpreted their relations with corrosion. These correlations between the metallurgical and corrosion properties of SLM products support biomedical engineers in the further development of bespoke medical devices, especially implants.