Improving the Wear Resistance and Tribological Properties of Titanium and Aluminum-Based Alloys by Non-Destructive Electron Beam Processing

The current research examines the influence of electron beam processing (EBP) parameters on the microstructure, physical, mechanical, and tribological properties of the surface layers of promising structural materials: titanium alloys (VT-1, VT-6) and an aluminum-matrix composite material (AlMg3 + 5 wt.% SiC). Titanium alloy specimens were manufactured by machining on CNC lathes. Composite specimens were produced using liquid-phase technology by mechanically mixing reinforcing particles into the matrix melt. Surface modification was performed in a wide range of modes: for titanium alloys, a submillisecond modulated electron beam was used on a SOLO setup with a temperature stabilized at 1400 °C, while for composite material samples, the linear energy ranged from 120–240 J/mm. It was experimentally established that the high-speed thermal cycle of EBP leads to a fundamental restructuring of the materials. Specifically, in VT-1 and VT-6 titanium alloy samples, a nanostructure consisting of acicular α-platelets formed, along with reduced initial surface roughness. In composite material samples, a 5–10-fold refinement of the matrix grains was observed with a uniform distribution of strengthening SiC particles. These structural changes significantly improved the performance of the treated samples. Titanium alloys demonstrated significant improvements in wear resistance and hydrophilicity (reduced contact angle), which is critical for their biomedical applications as implants. The surface hardness of composite materials after treatment increased by 11 %, wear decreased by 17.5 %, and the coefficient of friction and its root mean square deviation (RMSE) decreased by 32 % and 50 %, respectively (at a load of 2.5 MPa). Thus, electron beam machining is a versatile and highly effective method for forming precise, uniform, and wear-resistant surface layers on both homogeneous metal alloys and heterogeneous composite materials.