High temperature dry sliding wear behaviour of selective laser melted Ti-6Al-4V alloy surfaces

Abstract

The present study investigates the sparsely documented tribological performance of selective laser-melted Ti-6Al-4V over a wide range of temperatures (room temperature to 450 °C). The evolution of wear mechanism was traced by examining the phase changes, chemical composition, and morphology of wear tracks in the material. The native oxide layer developed on the surface of the material was found to mitigate adhesive wear during dry sliding at room temperature. At elevated temperatures, this oxide layer contributed to oxidative wear, as evidenced by the formation of a tribo-oxide layer with increased oxygen penetration. Further, abrasive wear was found to increase with increasing temperatures, which could be attributed to the presence of entrapped oxidized wear particles (third-body wear) and material softening.