Effect of Laser Surface Melting on the Microstructure and Corrosion Resistance of Laser Powder Bed Fusion and Wrought Ti-6Al-4V Alloys

Ti-6Al-4V, a popular biomedical alloy, is increasingly fabricated by additive manufacturing methods, like laser powder bed fusion (LPBF). However, rapid thermal cycling and steep temperature gradients often induce mechanical degradation, corrosion, and wear. To address these challenges, laser surface modification is explored. This study investigates the microstructure and corrosion behaviour (simulated body fluid, 37 °C) of LPBF and wrought Ti-6Al-4V after laser surface melting (LSM) treatment. LSM produced modified layers of 1250–1350 µm (LPBF) and 1530–1600 µm (wrought), with gradients from remelted dendrites to acicular martensite. Microhardness in the layers increased to 655–680 HV due to lattice expansion, crystallite refinement, and higher dislocation density. However, LSM-treated alloys showed higher corrosion rates and weaker passive films, attributed to increased surface roughness, martensite formation, residual stresses, and microstructural inhomogeneity. Aluminium silicate surface films/residues further compromised passivity. Nevertheless, both LSM-LPBF and LSM-wrought specimens displayed low corrosion current densities (10−4 mA/cm2), true passivity (10−3–10−4 mA/cm2), and high resistance to localised corrosion. After cyclic polarisation, rutile-rich TiO2 surface films with aluminium silicate hydrates were observed. LSM-LPBF specimens showed slightly inferior general corrosion resistance compared to LSM-wrought counterparts, due to pronounced surface texture variations, phase/composition differences, higher microstrains and dislocation density.