Enhancing the hardness and wear resistance of a TiC-Ni composite coating on grade 2 pure titanium by electron beam remelting

At present, a large number of reinforcements are being used to improve the hardness and wear resistance properties of titanium and its alloys, but limited attention has been given to the reinforcement mechanism. For this issue, first-principles calculations are a potential solution. In this study, a method of combining first-principles calculations with electron beam surface remelting experiments was used to prepare a composite coating to enhance the hardness and wear resistance of titanium grade 2 (TA2). Through the calculation and comparison of commonly used reinforcement particles based on first principles, TiC was confirmed as the ideal reinforcement for the Ti-Ni composite coating. Subsequently, surface electroplating was used to place TiC ceramic particles in a nickel-based precoating layer, and a Ni-TiC composite coating was synthesized on a TA2 surface by electron beam remelting. According to the corresponding analysis and test results, the wear resistance and surface hardness of modified TA2 were greatly improved. The maximum hardness of the coating is approximately 7.95 GPa, which is approximately three times higher than that of the TA2 substrate (1.90 GPa). The friction coefficient of the coating is 0.33, which is much smaller than that of TA2 (0.61).