Microstructural evolution and corrosion behavior of Ti–6Al–4V alloy fabricated by laser metal deposition for dental applications

In this study, microstructural evolution and corrosion behavior of Ti–6Al–4V (TC4) alloy fabricated by laser metal deposition (LMD) were investigated in simulated saliva at 37 °C as a function of scanning strategies. One-way scanning possessed a higher corrosion resistance than cross-scanning, but both of those were inferior to the wrought one. Compared with conventional wrought counterpart, the higher content of β phase improved the corrosion resistance. Results of Mott–Schottky and potentiostatic tests indicated that the passive film upon the surfaces of all the samples exhibited an N-type semiconductor structure and instantaneous nucleation. Of these, the LMD-ed parts displayed a lower donor concentration, higher vacancy diffusion coefficient, and thicker passive film than the wrought samples. XPS analysis revealed that the double-layer structure of passive film leads to a dense protective layer on the surface while the oxide contents of the three were different.