Surface modification is given vital importance in the biomedical industry to cope with surface tissue growth problems. Conventionally, basic surface treatment methods are used which include physical and chemical deposition. The major drawbacks associated with these methods are excessive cost and poor adhesion of coating with implant material. To generate a bioactive surface on an implant, electric discharge machining (EDM) is a promising and emerging technology which simultaneously serves as machining and surface modification technique. Besides the surface topology, implant material plays a very important role in surgical applications. From various implant materials, titanium (Ti6Al4V ELI) alloy is the best choice for long-term hard body tissue replacement due to its superior engineering, excellent biocompatibility and antibacterial properties. In this research, EDM’s surface characteristics are explored using Si powder mixed in dielectric on Ti6Al4V ELI. The effect of powder concentration (5 g/L, 10 g/L and 20 g/L) along with pulse current and pulse on time is investigated on micro and nanoscale surface topography. Optimized process parameters having a 5 g/L powder concentration result in 2.76 μm surface roughness and 13.80 μm recast layer thickness. Furthermore, a nano-structured (50–200 nm) biocompatible surface is fabricated on the surface for better cell attachment and growth. A highly favourable carbon enriched surface is confirmed through EDS which increases adhesion and proliferation of human osteoblasts.

Residual stress-induced deformations are a major cause of tolerance loss in solid freeform fabrication process employing direct metal deposition. In this article, a three-dimensional finite-element (FE) thermo-mechanical model is presented to predict the residual stress-induced deformations with application to processes where material is added using a distributed moving heat source, e.g. gas metal arc welding (GMAW). A sequentially coupled thermo-mechanical analysis is performed simulating buildup of a single layer on a bolted rectangular substrate. The material used in the present study is mild steel, with temperature-dependent material properties and the material modelled as elastic perfectly plastic. The numerical results are compared with experimental data by manufacturing plate-shaped single-layered specimen, using an indigenously developed semi-automatic deposition system. The fusion zone and temperatures predicted by numerical model show good agreement with experimental data, and the deformations of the substrate in bolted and unbolted conditions are also in good agreement. It has been observed that the heat transfer conditions vary during deposition; therefore, any assumption of thermal symmetry is not valid. Thermal cycling during deposition is the main cause of deformations. The effect of bolting is also very important.