Experimental and numerical study on micro-blasting process of 3A dental implant titanium alloy: A comparison between finite element method and smoothed particle hydrodynamics

In the present study, solid particle erosion due to micro-blasting of dental implants (3A) made of titanium alloy under the impact of multiple alumina particles with an average diameter of 85 μm was analyzed, experimentally and numerically. The numerical investigation was conducted using finite element (FE) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) methods. The erosive behavior of this alloy was simulated as impacts in micro-scale based on Johnson-Cook constitutive equations. By focusing on the particles impacts, a representative volume element (RVE) technique was proposed to simulate the arbitrary multiple particle impacts. The results of FE and SPH models are validated and compared with the experimental results. The effects of particle velocity and impact angle on the erosion rate of the alloy are then investigated. Finally, an equation is presented for prediction of the erosion rate versus velocity and angle of impact. The results indicate that for all impact velocities, the combination of penetration and cutting can create a critical condition of erosion damage for the titanium alloy.