Wear Properties of Titanium and Ti6Al4V Titanium Alloy by Mechanical Milling

Abstract

In this study, wear characteristics of titanium and titanium alloyed materials produced with mechanical alloying/milling (MA/MM) method were studied. In production of titanium and titanium alloyed materials, sponge titanium, gas atomised titanium powder and pre-alloyed Ti6Al4V alloy powder were used. The produced materials were characterised by scanning electron microscope, optical microscope, X-rays diffractometer (XRD) and EDS. The wear tests were carried out on a pin-on-disc type wear device under three different loads (15–30–45 N), four different sliding distances (500–1000–1500–2000 m) and a sliding speed of 1 ms–1. The results showed that no porosity was found on the gas atomised titanium and the Ti6Al4V alloy while very low amounts of micro porosity were formed on the sponge titanium samples. EDS analysis, on the other hand, revealed some Fe contamination on the materials, arising from the milling environment. It was seen that the hardness values of the samples produced from the gas atomised titanium powder were higher either than the samples produced from the sponge titanium, or the samples produced from the Ti6Al4V alloy. The fact that the wear losses obtained for the samples produced from the TiAl4V and gas atomised titanium powders were lower when compared to the sponge titanium. This was considered as the result of porous structure of sponge titanium.