The dilution rate has a significant impact on the composition and microstructure of the coatings, and the dilution rate and process parameters have a complex coupling relationship. In this study, three process parameters, namely laser power, powder feeding rate, and scanning speed, were selected as variables to design the orthogonal experiment. The dilution rate and hardness data were obtained from AlCoCrFeNi coatings based on orthogonal experiments. Then, a BP neural network was used to establish a prediction model of the process parameters on the dilution rate. The established BP neural network exhibited good prediction of the dilution rate of AlCoCrFeNi coatings, and the average relative error between the predicted value and the experimental value was only 5.89%. Subsequently, the AlCoCrFeNi coating was fabricated with the optimal process parameters. The results show that the coating was well-formed without defects, such as cracks and pores. The microhardness of the AlCoCrFeNi coating prepared with the optimal process parameters was 521.6 HV_0.3. The elements were uniformly distributed in the microstructure, and the grain size was about 20–60 μm. The microstructure of the AlCoCrFeNi coating was only composed of the BCC phase without the existence of the FCC phase and intermetallic compounds.

Titanium-tantalum (Ti-Ta) alloy has excellent biomechanical properties with high strength and low Young’s modulus, showing great application potential in the biomedical industry. In this study, Ti-Ta alloy samples were prepared by laser powder bed fusion (LPBF) technology with mixed pure 75 wt.% Ti and 25 wt.% Ta powders as the feedstock. The maximum relative density of Ti-Ta samples prepared by LPBF reached 99.9%. It is well-accepted that four nonequilibrium phases, namely, α′, α″ and metastable β phase exist in Ti-Ta alloys. The structure of α′, α″ and β are hexagonal close-packed (HCP), base-centered orthorhombic (BCO) and body-centered cubic (BCC), respectively. X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis showed that the α′ phase transformed to the α″ phase with the increase of energy density. The lamellar α′/α″ phases and the α″ twins were generated in the prior β phase. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the Ti-Ta alloy were optimized with different LPBF processing parameters. The samples prepared by LPBF energy density of 381 J/mm³ had a favorable ultimate strength (UTS) of 1076 ± 2 MPa and yield strength of 795 ± 16 MPa. The samples prepared by LPBF energy density of 76 had excellent ductility, with an elongation of 31% at fracture.