Superficial Properties Modification of Ti-6Al-4V Alloy

Resumo

The aim of this work is to modify Ti-6Al-4V alloy surface properties, to improve its tribological behavior and biocompatibility. The process used is Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation (Pill), where the tridimensional samples are homogeneously treated. The titanium alloy specimens are treated for time intervals between 15 and 120 minutes and subsequently characterized by techniques: AES, ball-on-disc and nanoindentation. AES can confirm titanium nitride presence on surface, however this modified layer is very thin, around 40 nm of thickness for specimens treated around 90 minutes of implantation. The tribological properties improvement is confirmed through ball-on-disc test, where coefficient of friction decreases from 0.7 for the untreated sample and to 0.15-0.2 for the sample treated during 45 minutes. Nanoindentation test permits to verify that mechanical properties are improved with hardness increasing around 50% more than original values.

Palavras-chave