Enhancing tribological performance of Ti-6Al-4V by sliding process

The exceptional combination of mechanical, physical and anti-corrosive properties of Titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4?V (Ti64) makes it idle material for the applications like aerospace, automobile, chemical, medical etc. However, Ti64 exhibits poor tribological (friction and wear) properties, which limits its implementation in the intended applications. The tribological performance of the Ti64 can be enhanced by developing a protective layer or coating on its surface. It has been reported in literatures that through rubbing process the oxide layers can be achieved at much lower temperature compared to external heating process. Therefore, an endeavour is made in the present work to achieve a tribo-oxide protective layer on the surface of Ti64 through rubbing process. For this, at first the tribological behaviour of tribo pair: Ti64 pin-alumina disc is studied under dry ambient condition for diverse loading and sliding speed conditions, using pin on disc experimental set-up. The obtained results are compared with literatures. The tribological performance is quantified in terms of coefficient of friction (COF) and wear rate. To investigate the tribological mechanism and behaviour, in-situ analysis was performed on the pin’s surface using (i) scanning electron microscopy, and (ii) energy dispersive analysis of X-ray. The mechanical properties like nano-hardness and elastic modulus of the pins surface were also determined. It was envisaged that the tribological behaviour were extremely transient and depend greatly on what the surface has precisely experienced Based on the experimental observations, the experimental conditions providing (i) Case1: deprived tribological properties and (ii) Case 2: higher oxide layer is selected. Now, to enhance the tribological behaviour of Case 1, the pin with high oxide layer, i.e. Case 2 is used. For this experiment is performed initially for Case 2 conditions for the sliding distance of 1000 m (for developing oxide layer) and the experiment is continued for next 1000 m for Case 1 condition. The experimental results in terms of COF and wear rate are presented and corresponding enhancement in their values are discussed.