A novel proposal to manipulate the properties of titanium parts by laser surface alloying

A novel proposal is presented to increase the fatigue strength of titanium parts by applying a less rigid coating, which is expected to lower the tensile stresses at the surface and delay the onset of fatigue cracking. Niobium was introduced into the surface layer by laser surface alloying and, depending on the process parameters, β and α″ phases were obtained, resulting in a reduction of approximately 30% in Young’s modulus and a more than 100% increase in hardness.