Laser surface remelting influences tribological behaviour of additively manufactured CoCrWMo alloy for load-bearing implant applications.

Authors

Alicja Stanisławska, Tomasz Seramak, Katarzyna Zasińska, Ewa Kozłowska, Grzegorz Gajowiec, Jacek Łubiński, Yurii Tsybrii, Łukasz Gaweł, Maria Gazda, Jarosław Mizera, Marek Szkodo

Published in

Journal of the mechanical behavior of biomedical materials. Volume 182. Pages 107536. Jul 02, 2026. Epub Jul 02, 2026.

Abstract

CoCrWMo alloys produced by laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) are promising materials for load bearing biomedical implants such as hip and knee joint replacements. Surface defects and microstructural anisotropy introduced during printing raise concerns about long term wear performance in physiological conditions. The influence of build orientation and laser surface remelting on the defect structure, surface oxide composition and wear behaviour of CoCrWMo alloy produced by laser powder bed fusion was investigated. Samples were fabricated at build orientations of 0°, 30°, 75° and 90°, and analysed both in the as printed condition and after Nd:YAG laser remelting. Build orientation strongly affected the defect structure, with the highest dislocation densities for the 30° and 75° samples (8.71 × 10¹³ m^-2 and 8.08 × 10¹³ m^-2) and the lowest for the 90° sample (0.94 × 10¹³ m^-2). Laser remelting increased the crystallite size from 10.91-46.88 nm to 56.25-82.57 nm and increased the fraction of edge dislocations. It also changed the oxide composition from cobalt dominated to chromium dominated, with Cr₂O₃ rising from 12-15% to 49-54%. Hardness increased from 407 to 440 HV to 469-508 HV. Although friction increased slightly, laser-remelted samples exhibited wear-track morphologies consistent with the formation of more stable tribo-oxidative layers during sliding. This is related to the formation of a more stable oxide layer during sliding. The results show that build orientation and laser remelting control defect structure and oxide composition, which determine wear behaviour and can improve the performance of additively manufactured biomedical components.

PMID:
42407170
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 07 Jul 2026.

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