Investigation of impact load and erosion behaviors on Ti-Ta alloy surface through the synergistic effect of ultrasonic cavitation and micro-abrasive particles

Ti–Ta alloy micro-nano surface processing is crucial for achieving biocompatibility. To investigate the cavitation and micro-abrasive particle damage characteristics, and the deformation mechanism of Ti–Ta alloy material surface, indentation theory, and the J-C constitutive model were adopted. Numerical load prediction models for ultrasonic cavitation and micro-abrasive particles' impact on Ti–Ta alloy surfaces were developed, and the erosion behaviors of ultrasonic cavitation and micro-abrasive particles’ impact on Ti–Ta alloy surfaces individually and in synergy were experimentally investigated. The inversion analysis shows that the range of ultrasonic cavitation impact load is 0.025–1.015 N, and there are material peeling and interconnection phenomena in the cavitation erosion pit. On the other hand, the impact load range of 10 μm spherical smooth SiO2 micro-abrasive particles is 0.107–0.814 N, and there is no material peeling or interconnection phenomenon in the micro-abrasive particle erosion pit. Additionally, the cavitation erosion rate is determined through changes in roughness and depression volume, resulting in a rate of 38.6%. In contrast, the cavitation-induced micro-abrasive particle erosion rate reached 166.4%. The results show that the impact load and erosion rate of ultrasonic cavitation-induced micro-abrasive particles are greater than those of cavitation impact load and erosion rate. Furthermore, ultrasonic cavitation-induced micro-abrasive particles impact is found to be more conducive to achieving micro-nano processing of Ti–Ta alloy surface.