ABSTRACT New techniques for manufacturing of biomaterials using additive/substrate manufacturing such as melting laser sintering (SLM) or CAD/CAM milling use micrometric metal powders to build custom parts. CoCrMo alloys are commonly used as biomaterials due to biocompatibility, high corrosion resistance and good mechanical properties. In this work, Cr-Co-based powder was obtained by mechanical alloying of Cr-Co-Mo-W alloy, using different Ball/Powder-Ratios (BPR) and thermal treatments. The powders were deagglomerated and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on SEM micrographs, the particle size analysis was used to compare the particles spheroidizing degree, using Feret’s diameter. The XRD patterns shown Co(solid-solution) as crystalline phase. The results of particles size indicates a decrease of Feret’s diameter in BPR (Ball/Powder-Ratio) from 4:1 to 6:1 understanding that from this ratio there is no significant decrease of this relation but there is an average size increase with losses in morphological aspect. The comparison between atomized powders and powder developed in this work indicates that atomized products present relation close to one which indicates there is uniformity in the particles spherical shape. Comparing ground powders from 6:1 ratio (before and after thermal treatment) there is a considerable decrease of Feret’s diameter being it decreased from 1.75 to 1.4, an increase of about 46% in particles spheroidizing.

Abstract In this work, CoCrMo-base alloys specimens were produced by additive manufacturing using selective laser melting (SLM) as well as CAD/CAM milling. For SLM specimens, spherical particles were laser processed at 1320°C under argon atmosphere and submitted to thermal stress relieving at 750°C–45min. Specimens from CoCrMo blocks were milled by CAD/CAM machining and sintered at 1300°C–60min. The materials from both techniques were characterized by relative density, dilatometry, SEM/BSE, OM and XRD analysis. The mechanical properties were determined by Vickers hardness and tensile tests. The specimens from both techniques exhibited single phase γCo (FCC) and CTE of 14 x10-6 °C-1. Relative density of 95.4%/ 85.6%, hardness values near 400HV/ 350HV and UTS of 905MPa/ 780MPa were measured for SLM and CAD/CAM specimens, respectively. Higher relative density is the main factor for increased mechanical properties of SLM specimens. On the other hand, both SLM and CAD/CAM specimens present properties in accordance with ISO-22674 recommendations, compatible with dental applications such as bridges containing four or more elements as well as fully dense pontics.

ZrO2(Y2O3)-based ceramics are widely used as biomaterials due to high fracture toughness, resulting from the tetragonal-monoclinic phase transformation in which the ceramic is submitted during crack propagation. In this context, studies involving the possibility of optimization of the tetragonal phase are important for the properties improvement of this ceramic. This study investigated the recovery of tetragonal phase from a previously transformed ZrO2(3 mol% Y2O3) ceramic. Zirconia samples were sintered at 1450 °C, at 1530 °C - 2 h and at 1600 °C - 4 h, in order to obtain materials with distinct microstructural features. The sintered samples were characterized by relative density, X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. Samples sintered at 1450 °C, 1530 °C - 2 h and 1600 °C - 4 h, presented relative densities of 94.2, 99.6 and 99.7% with grains size averages of 0.28, 0.49 and 1.31 µm, respectively. All samples were submitted to milling to induce the tetragonal→monoclinic phase transformation presenting 5, 50 and 65 vol% of monoclinic phase. Subsequently, heat treatments between 400 °C and 1200 °C were conducted to retransform monoclinic in tetragonal phase. It has been found that the smaller the grain size after sintering, the lower the necessary annealing temperatures for fully recovering of tetragonal phase. Annealing temperatures of 950, 1100 and 1200 °C were sufficient to recover almost fully the tetragonal phase.