Wear resistance of two-phase titanium alloy after deformation-diffusion treatment

The influence of deformation-diffusion treatment including a combination of the previous cold surface plastic deformation (ball burnishing) and subsequent thermochemical treatment (nitriding), on the tribological behavior of the Ti-6Al-5Mo-5V-1.5Cu-1Fe two-phase titanium alloy in a pair with Cu-10Al-4Ni-4Fe bronze alloy was studied. According to the results of the tribological test, SEM and EDX analyses of the wear surfaces, wear mechanisms (or processes) those of tribo-pairs in the conditions of boundary lubrication were established. It is shown that deformation-diffusion treatment of titanium alloy provided higher tribotechnical parameters (wear resistance, friction coefficient, temperature near the friction zone) of investigated tribo-pairs compared to traditional treatments (ball burnishing or nitriding).