Tribological Behavior of Borided Ti6Al4V Alloy under Simulated Body Fluid Conditions

Ti6Al4V alloy is the most widely used titanium alloy due to its attractive properties such as heat resistance, strength, plasticity, toughness, formability, weld-ability, corrosion resistance and biocompatibility. However, the main problem with titanium and its alloys is that they have poor tribological performance. Boriding seems to be the effective way to improve the tribological performance of titanium alloys. Titanium borides have an attractive combination of low density, high hardness, excellent wear, and corrosion resistance. In this study, Ti6Al4V alloy was borided in a solid media at 1100 degrees C for 20 h. The microhardness profile was studied by a Vickers indenter. The hardness value of surface increases from 330 HV to 2789 HV. Wear experiments were performed in Ringer's solution that simulates human body environment. It was observed that boriding process improved tribological performance of Ti6Al4V alloy under all test conditions.