Tribological Behavior Analysis of the ISO 5832-1 Austenitic Stainless-Steel Treated by Optical Fiber Laser Used for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The present work analyzed the influence of an optical fiber laser surface treatment process on the tribological behavior of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel, basing on the wear volume and friction coefficient. Specimen of this biomaterial were treated by alternating the laser frequency, in order to find out a condition that improves its tribological resistance. Ball-cratering micro-abrasive wear tests were carried out with a test ball of AISI 316L stainless-steel, used as counter-body, and an abrasive slurry prepared with abrasive particles of black silicon carbide (SiC) and distilled water. The micro-abrasive wear tests results indicated that: i) the hardness of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel increased as a function of the laser frequency, decreasing, consequently, the wear volume, as predicted by Archard's Law; ii) the friction coefficient did not present a proportional behavior with the increase of the optical fiber laser frequency; iii) the best condition to improve the wear resistance of the ISO 5832-1 austenitic stainless-steel was obtained adopting an optical fiber laser frequency of 350 kHz, being reported the lower wear volume.