Traditional processing methods for the part production of Co-Cr alloys include casting, powder metallurgy, and metal forming. However, the steps involved during materials processing followed by metal forming and machining are time consuming and fraught with processing variables. Three-dimensional (3D) printing enables rapid evolution in design, personalization, and so on. This article presents a brief description of some common additive manufacturing (AM) processes for the production of cobalt alloy parts, and provides a comparison between AM and conventional processing methods. The discussion is centered on process-microstructure-properties correlation in additively manufactured cobalt alloys and applications of these alloys.

This article provides a brief introduction to abrasive wear-resistant coating materials that contain a large amount of hard phases, such as borides, carbides, or carboborides. It describes some of the commonly used methods of producing thick wear-resistant coatings. The article also provides information on metal-matrix composites and cemented carbides. The three base-alloying concepts, including cobalt-, iron-, and nickel-base alloys used for wear-protection applications, are also described. The article compares the tribomechanical properties of the materials in a qualitative manner, thus allowing a rough materials selection for practitioners. It presents a brief discussion on hot isostatic pressing (HIP) cladding, sinter cladding, and manufacturing of thick wear-resistant coatings by extrusion or ring rolling. The article also discusses the processing sequence of thick wear-resistant coatings, namely, compound casting, deposition welding, and thermal spraying.

This article focuses on the tribological behavior of group 1, 2, and 3 cobalt-base alloys, namely, carbide-type wear-resistant alloys and laves-type wear-resistant alloys. The behavior includes hardness, yield strength and ductility, and fracture toughness. The article contains a table that lists the nominal compositions and typical applications of cobalt-base alloys. It discusses the properties and relative performance of specific alloys when subjected to the more common types of wear. These include abrasive wear, high-temperature sliding wear, rolling-contact fatigue wear, and erosive wear.

Hardfacing refers to the deposition of a specially selected material onto a component in order to reduce wear in service as a preventative measure or return a worn component to its original dimensions as a repair procedure. This article provides information on various hardfacing materials, namely, iron-base overlays, chromium carbide-based overlays, nickel- and cobalt-base alloys, and tungsten carbide-based metal-matrix composite overlays. It discusses the types of hardfacing processes, such as arc welding processes, and laser cladded, oxyacetylene brazing and vacuum brazing processes. The arc welding processes include shielding metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding/flux cored arc welding, gas tungsten arc welding, submerged arc welding, and plasma transferred arc welding. The article also reviews various factors influencing the selection of the appropriate hardfacing for specific applications.

Cobalt is used as an alloying element in alloys for various applications. This article provides a detailed account of the metallurgy of cobalt-base alloys. It focuses on the compositions, properties, and applications of cobalt-base alloys, which include wear-resistant cobalt alloys, heat-resistant cobalt alloys, and cobalt-base corrosion-resistant alloys. The article also describes the heat treatments such as annealing and aging, for these alloys.

This article reviews the corrosion interactions between biomedical alloys, in particular iron-base, titanium-base, and cobalt-base alloys, in complex geometries and in applications where there are significant cyclic stresses and potential for wear and fretting motion. It discusses the nature of these metal surfaces and their propensity for corrosion reactions when combined with similar or different alloys in complex restrictive environments within the human body and under loading conditions. The article describes the factors that influence mechanically assisted crevice corrosion. It reviews the tests developed to investigate the aspects of mechanically assisted corrosion of metallic biomaterials: the scratch test and the in vitro fretting corrosion test.

Implant debris is known to cause local inflammation, local osteolysis, and, in some cases, local and systemic hypersensitivity. The debris can be stainless steel, cobalt alloy, and titanium alloy, and soluble debris obtained due to wear from all orthopedic implants. This article addresses the biologic aspects of implant debris, both locally and systemically. It describes debris-induced local effects, particle-induced proinflammatory responses, and debris-induced systemic effects. The article concludes with a discussion on the four systemic effects of implant debris, namely, neuropathic effects, hypersensitivity effects, carcinogenicity, and general toxicity.

Porous coatings are used in the field of joint replacement, particularly in cementless total hip/knee arthroplasty. This article reviews the offerings and biomaterial properties in orthopedic surgery for the contemporary class of highly porous metals. It describes the traditional porous metals/coatings having an open-cell structure, high porosity, and a microstructure resembling that of the cancellous bone. The traditional porous metal/coating includes fiber-metal mesh, cobalt-chromium (CoCr) beads, cancellous-structured titanium, and plasma spray. The article discusses other porous metals/coatings that have been developed due to the limitations of traditional porous metals for numerous open-cell-structured metals, such as titanium-base foams and trabecular metals.

This article reviews the concepts considered important for an understanding of the processes used for preparing cobalt-chromium alloy implants, the microstructures resulting from this processing, and the resulting material properties. The review includes solidification of alloys, diffusionless (martensitic) phase transformation as occurs with face-centered cubic to hexagonal close-packed transformation in cobalt-chromium alloys, and stacking faults and twins and their role in this transformation. It also discusses the strengthening mechanisms that are responsible for the mechanical properties of cast and wrought cobalt alloys. The article contains tables that list the commonly used cobalt alloys and their biomedical applications and chemical compositions. It discusses the mechanical and corrosion properties of cobalt alloys, and provides a description of the microstructure of cobalt alloys.

This article focuses on the analysis of materials and mechanical- (or biomechanical-) based medical device failures. It reviews the failure analysis practices, including evidence receipt, cleaning, nondestructive examination, destructive examination, exemplars analysis, and device redesign. The article examines the common failure modes, such as overload, fatigue, corrosion, hydrogen embrittlement, and fretting, of medical devices. The failure analysis of orthopedic implants, such as permanent prostheses and internal fixation devices, is described. The article reviews the failure mechanisms in some of the more common medical device materials, namely, stainless steels, titanium alloys, cobalt-base alloys, and nitinol. It presents case histories with examples for failure analysis.

This article tabulates the nominal compositions for nickel and cobalt alloys. It illustrates the comparison of strain-hardening rates of a number of alloys in terms of the increase in hardness with increasing cold reduction. The forming practice for age-hardenable alloys and the lubricants used in the forming processes of nickel and cobalt alloys are also discussed. The article summarizes the modification of tools and dies used for cold forming other metals, as the physical and mechanical properties of nickel and cobalt alloys frequently necessitate it. It discusses forming techniques for these alloys and provides several examples of these techniques, which include shearing, blanking, piercing, deep drawing, spinning, explosive forming, bending, and expanding/tube forming.

This article reviews the understanding of corrosion interactions between alloys in complex geometries and in applications where there are significant cyclic stresses and potential for wear and fretting motion. These alloys include iron-base, titanium-base, and cobalt-base alloys. The article discusses the surface characteristics and electrochemical behavior of metallic biomaterials. It summaries the clinical context for mechanically assisted corrosion and describes mechanically assisted crevice corrosion. There have been several tests developed to investigate aspects of mechanically assisted corrosion. The article also explains the scratch test and the in vitro fretting corrosion test.

This article tabulates the chemical composition of iron-base, titanium-base, and cobalt-base alloys and illustrates the microstructures of these materials. It discusses the surface morphology and chemistry of oxide-film-covered alloys and provides insights into the interaction. The article illustrates the interfacial structure of a biomaterial surface contacting with the biological environment. It describes the corrosion behavior of stainless steel, cobalt-base alloy, and titanium alloys. The electrochemical methods used for studying metallic biomaterials corrosion are also discussed. The article concludes with information on the biological consequences of in vivo corrosion and biocompatibility.

This article provides information on biomedical aspects such as active biological responses and the chemical environment characterizing the internal physiological milieu, as well as electrochemical fundamentals needed for characterizing corrosion fatigue (CF) and stress-corrosion cracking (SCC). It discusses some of the mechanical and electrochemical phenomena related to the in vivo degradation of materials used for biomedical applications. These materials include stainless steels, cobalt and titanium-base alloy systems, and dental amalgam. The article addresses key issues related to the simulation of the in vivo environment, service conditions, and data interpretation. The factors influencing susceptibility to CF and SCC are reviewed. The article describes the testing methodology of CF and SCC. It also summarizes findings from laboratory testing, in vivo testing and retrieval studies related to CF and SCC.

This article provides a discussion on forging methods, melting procedures, forging equipment, forging practices, grain refinement, and critical factors considered in forging process. It describes the different types of solid-solution-strengthened and precipitation-strengthened superalloys, namely, iron-nickel superalloys, nickel-base alloys, cobalt-base alloys, and powder alloys. The article discusses the microstructural mechanisms during hot deformation and presents processing maps for various superalloys. It concludes with a discussion on heat treatment of wrought heat-resistant alloy forgings.

This article addresses the cobalt and cobalt-base alloys most suited for aqueous environments and those suited for high temperatures. The performance of cobalt alloys in aqueous environments encountered in commercial applications is discussed. The article provides information on the environmental cracking resistance of the cobalt alloys. Three welding processes that are used for hardfacing with the high-carbon Co-Cr-W alloys, namely, oxyacetylene, gas tungsten arc, and plasma-transferred arc are also discussed. The article examines the effects of various modes of high-temperature corrosion. It describes the applications and fabrication of cobalt alloys for high-temperature service.

Metallography plays a significant role in the quality control of metals and alloys used in the manufacture of implantable surgical devices. This article provides information and data on metallographic techniques along with images showing the microstructure of biomedical orthopedic alloys, including stainless steels, cobalt-base alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, porous coatings, and emerging materials.

This article discusses the specimen preparation of three types of cast and wrought heat-resistant alloys: iron-base, nickel-base, and cobalt-base. Specimen preparation involves sectioning, mounting, grinding, polishing, and etching. The article illustrates the microstructural constituents of cast and wrought heat-resistant alloys. It describes the identification of ferrite by magnetic etching. The transmission electron microscopy examination of the fine strengthening phases in wrought alloys and bulk extraction in heat-resistant alloys are included. The article also reviews the gamma prime phase, gamma double prime phase, eta phase, laves phase, sigma phase, mu phase, and chi phase in wrought heat-resistant alloys.

This article describes the metallurgy and microstructure of high-performance cobalt-base alloys. It discusses metallographic preparation procedures, including sectioning, mounting, grinding, polishing, etching, staining, and heat tinting. It examines the microstructure of cobalt alloys in cast, wrought, and powder metal forms, including magnetic alloys as well as several cobalt-base superalloys.