Fatigue improvement of electron beam melting-fabricated biomedical Co–Cr–Mo alloy by accessible heat treatment

Abstract

We significantly improved the fatigue properties of an electron beam melting (EBM)-fabricated biomedical Co–Cr–Mo alloy by a simple post-production heat treatment without any deformation process. The fatigue properties were improved by transforming the as-EBM-fabricated dual-phase structure (containing both the ϵ-hcp and γ-fcc phases) into the dominant ϵ-hcp phase structure, and they were further improved significantly by reverse transforming it into the dominant grain-refined γ-fcc phase structure at certain ageing conditions. It provides an accessible avenue for improving the mechanical properties of additive-manufactured metallic components.