Dry sliding wear behavior of superelastic Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al β-titanium alloy

• Micromechanisms of mild and severe wear were established for Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloy.
• Superelasticity was correlated with wear enhancement in the mild wear region.
• Absence of superelasticity effect at high loads was linked to Ti adhesion tendency.

The dry sliding wear behavior and wear mechanisms of near-β Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloy were investigated with respect to its superelastic characteristics. The β-annealed Ti–10V–2Fe–3Al alloy exhibited high recoverable elastic deformation, e.g., maximum recovery ratio of 90% at 200 mN load during indentation tests using a diamond Rockwell stylus (200 µm radius). Wear tests were carried out under unlubricated conditions using a ball-on-disk tribometer under unidirectional sliding (single pass) and rotational conditions within a load range of 1–5 N against AISI 52100 steel counterface. The dominant wear mechanism, at low loads (≤2 N), was oxidative wear and superelasticity enhanced the wear resistance mainly due to the high strain recovery of the alloy. A transition to severe wear occurred at higher loads (>2 N) characterized by higher wear rates, adhesion, and transfer of titanium alloy to the counterface. After the transition, superelasticity did not contribute to wear enhancement.