Tribocorrosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V in artificial seawater at low contact pressures

The tribo-electrochemical performance of Ti6Al4V in artificial seawater is investigated under reciprocating sliding conditions at three contact loads (10 mN, 100 mN, and 1 N) and three electrochemical conditions (−0.5 V, OCP and +0.5 V). The results reveal that the achieved contact pressures are not able to fully depassivate the surface. For the lowest load, no rupture on the passive film could be detected while with an increase in the load, depassivation-repassivation takes place during sliding contact. For 100 mN, an unusual higher coefficient of friction was measured for all electrochemical testing conditions. This behaviour is observed to correlate with a higher synergy between corrosion and wear and seems to be linked with the initial surface roughness of the titanium alloy.