Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84

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Tribology International
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/triboint

Study of the tribocorrosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V – HA biocomposites MARK

a,⁎ b b b c b
M. Buciumeanu , A. Araujo , O. Carvalho , G. Miranda , J.C.M. Souza , F.S. Silva ,
B. Henriquesb,d
a
Cross–Border Faculty of Humanities, Economics and Engineering, “Dunărea de Jos” University of Galaţi, Domnească 47, 800008 Galati, Romania
b
MEMS-UMinho, Center for MicroelectromechanicalSystems, Universityof Minho, Campus de Azurém, 4800-058 Guimarães, Portugal
c
Center for Research on Dental Implants (CEPID), Department of Dentistry (ODT), Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), 88040-900
Florianópolis, SC, Brazil
d
Laboratory of Ceramic and Composite Materials (CERMAT), Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC), Campus Trindade, Florianópolis, SC, Brazil

A R T I C L E I N F O A BS T RAC T

Keywords: This study is concern with tribocorrosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposites. The Ti6Al4V composites
Hydroxyapatite reinforced with different contents of hydroxyapatite (HA) particles 5–15%, vol%) were produced by hot pressing
Ti6Al4V alloy technique. The tribocorrosion tests were performed by using a ball-on-plate configuration in artificial saliva at
Composites 37 °C. The tests were carried out under open circuit potential (OCP), with a sliding duration of 1800 s, 1 N
Tribocorrosion
normal load and 1 Hz frequency. The open circuit potential and wear mechanisms for all tested biocomposites
are presented and discussed. The results suggest that HA plays a relevant role on tribocorrosion behaviour of
Ti6Al4V-HA composites. All composites samples presented better wear resistance and also a relatively lower
tendency to corrosion with increasing HA content.

1. Introduction the biocompatibility and bioactivity of HA. Therefore, some approaches

Wear and corrosion resistance of biomaterials have been reported
to be a primary reason for the failure of an implant [1,2]. Regarding the
use as biomaterial (e.g. implant material), titanium and its alloys have
been widely studied and it has been reported that processing technol-
ogy of Ti6Al4V and its composites has a great influence in the
microstructural morphology, and thus in mechanical, wear and corro-
sion behaviour [3–8]. Thus, whatever the processing technology used
(e.g. conventional processing technologies, such as casting or modern
processing roots such as: Hot Pressing - HP, thermal spraying,
Selective Laser Melting-SLM, Laser Engineered Net Shaping-LENS),
the main advantages of the titanium and its alloys used as biomaterial
(mainly in load-bearing applications) are their excellent mechanical
properties, while the main disadvantages reported are the poor
capabilities of interaction with the native tissue and also their poor
wear behaviour [9–11]. Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a bioceramic that has a
very similar structure to the bone and can help the bonding with the
native tissue, while the main disadvantage of HA is its brittle nature
and poor mechanical properties [12,13].
Thus, the solution to overcome the previously mentioned disad-
vantages of both titanium and HA when they are used in biomedical
applications would be the creation of a new biocomposite material that
combine the excellent mechanical properties of titanium Ti6Al4V with
have been reported, such as: ceramic materials applied as coating on
metallic substrates (plasma spraying, magnetron sputtering, sol–gel
processing etc.) [14–19] or composites materials [20–23]. It has been
reported some good results by coating the Ti6Al4V with HA [14,15,19],
but as reported by Chang et al. [24] this solution is not consistent in
long-terms, as the HA coating as any other coating is susceptible to
degradation and delamination. So, the last approach that consists in
addition of ceramic materials to a metallic matrix or metals to a
ceramic matrix, seems to be a better choice [20,22,23,25–28] as long as
an FGM - Functionally Graded Materials approach is followed. A great
consideration has been given to the FGM approach as compared to the
coating approach in biomedical applications [29,30]. It allows an
improved distribution of residual stresses, and consequently better
properties (mechanical, fatigue, wear etc.), due to smooth transition of
composition. It has been already shown that a powder metallurgy (PM)
route is adequate to produce FGMs [31,32], so tailoring the material
response to meet design criteria.
Regarding the influence of the processing parameters on the
fabrication of Ti composites reinforced by HA, it has been reported
that the most important parameter is temperature as this affects the
thermal stability of HA [20]. In a study about the influence of HA
content (from 10% to 30%) in a titanium alloy [33] it has been reported
that the hardness values increased with the HA content, while the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: mihaela.buciumeanu@ugal.ro (M. Buciumeanu).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.triboint.2016.11.029
Received 8 September 2016; Received in revised form 9 November 2016; Accepted 15 November 2016
Available online 15 November 2016
0301-679X/ © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Buciumeanu et al.
increase in porosity was attributed some reactions between Ti and HA
at high temperatures. In order to increase the interaction between HA
and Ti, Chang et al. [34] added iron to Ti-HA composite. They reported
an increase of the flexural strength, fracture toughness, fatigue
resistance, and the related fracture surface roughness with increasing
amount of Ti–Fe particles. Also, Niespodziana et al. [35] studied the
influence of HA contents (3, 10, 20 vol%) in titanium-HA composites
on mechanical and corrosion behaviour. They reported an increase of
hardness with the addition of HA 4–6 times higher than titanium),
while the Young's modulus was lower than the one of titanium. Also, it
has been reported that the addition of HA increased the corrosion
resistance. Regarding the bioactivity of the HA it has been demon-
strated that under some processing conditions, namely by using hot
pressing, at controlled temperature, 1100–1175 °C, no substantial
degradation of hydroxyapatite occurred [36].
Regarding the wear behaviour in wet environment of HA coated Ti
alloy it has been reported that it decreased considerably as compared
with the wear rate of uncoated Ti alloy [37,38]. This improvement on
the wear resistance was attributed also to the body solutions used, that
can provide effective lubrication. More recently, Kumar at al. [23]
studied the effect of Ti and apatite crystals on the tribological behaviour
of hydroxyapatite–titanium composites (5, 10 and 20 wt% Ti). They
reported that wear rate was an order of magnitude lower in the case of
10 wt% as compared to the monolithic HA. Lee [39] reported that the
wear rate and also the corrosion resistance in Hanks’ solution of HA/
nano-TiO2 coated anodic Ti–6Al–4 V substrate were improved as
compared to nonanodized Ti–6Al–4 V substrate.
Significant work has been done regarding the tribocorrosion
behaviour of titanium and its alloy [4,40–42]. To the authors’ best
knowledge, there are tribocorrosion studies regarding composites
coating containing HA [39], but no tribocorrosion studies are currently
available for Ti6Al4V-HA composites. In that sense, the main aim of
this study was to investigate the tribocorrosion behaviour of hot
pressed Ti6Al4V composites reinforced with different contents of
hydroxyapatite (HA) particles ranging from 5 up to 15% (vol%) in
artificial saliva solution, aiming at being a candidate for prosthesis
manufacturing.
2. Experimental procedure
2.1. Materials
Ti6Al4V alloy spherical powder, (TLS Technik, Germany) having a
maximum particle size of 45 µm was used as matrix, while HA
spherical powder, supplied by Fluidinova (nanoXIM-HA403 Moreira
da Maia, Portugal) having a particle size of d50=10.0 ± 2.0 µm was used
as reinforcement.
The Ti6Al4V alloy and Ti6Al4V-HA composites were produced by a
conventional hot pressing procedure. More details regarding the
procedure used to produce the Ti6Al4V alloy and Ti6Al4V-HA compo-
sites are given elsewhere [36].
The HA content ratios in the mixture were selected as follows: 5%,
10%, and 15% (vol%). The samples are named according to the volume
content of HA in the Ti6Al4V matrix, e.g. Ti-5HA for 5% of HA, and so
on.
2.2. Tribocorrosion tests
Bruker-UMT-2 tribometer was used in reciprocating ball-on-plate
configuration to evaluate the tribocorrosion of Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V-
HA composites. The produced Ti6Al4V-HA composites (10×6×1 mm)
were used as plates, while as counterpart was used an alumina ball
(10 mm diameter alumina ball, Goodfellow). Experiments were per-
formed with a normal load of 1 N (corresponds to about 429 MPa
maximum Hertzianz contact pressure for the Ti6Al4V alloy), a fre-
quency of the reciprocating motion of 1 Hz and a total stroke length of
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Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84
3 mm during 1800 s.
The tribocorrosion tests were performed under open circuit poten-
tial, in modified Fusayama artificial saliva solution at 37 ± 2 °C. The
OCP was measured before (60 min), during (30 min) and after
reciprocating sliding tests (60 min) by using a Gamry Potentiostat /
Galvanostat (model Reference-600). More details regarding the tribo-
corrsion procedure used in this work have been reported elsewhere
[43]. One set of each test condition was repeated five times.
After testing, the specific wear rate was estimated by measuring the
lateral width of the wear scars and using empirical mathematical
equations assuming that the wear scars are formed by perfect ball
geometry [44]. All tests were performed in laboratory environment (20
± 2 °C).
2.3. Surface characterization, porosity and hardness measurements
Morphological characterization of the surfaces before and after the
tribocorrsion tests was carried out by using the following techniques:
Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM, FEI Nova 200, USA) and Energy
Dispersive Spectrometry (EDS).
The porosity analysis was performed by an image analysis techni-
que using optical microscope (Leica DM 2500M, Leica Microsystems,
Germany) and Image J software (National Institutes of Health, USA).
Vicker's microhardness measurements were performed on 10
different areas of the samples surfaces by using a microhardness tester
(DuraScan, Emco-Test, Austria) with a load of 500 g during 15 s.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Morphological aspects of the surfaces before the tribocorrosion
tests
SEM images of the microstructure of monolithic Ti6Al4V and
Ti6Al4V-HA composites (with 200× and 1000× magnifications) with
different content ratios of HA particles (5%, 10%, and 15%, vol%) are
shown in Figs. 1 and 2. SEM image (with a higher magnification
5000×) of Ti-10HA composite and EDS spectra at the marked areas (Z1
and Z2) are shown in Fig. 3.
The microstructure of the Ti6Al4V alloy (Fig. 1A) shows a lamellar
structure consisting in α-β phases. It can be seen differences on the
microstructure of the Ti6Al4V-HA composites (Fig. 2A–C), with the
dark phase increasing with the increasing content of HA particles in the
Ti6Al4V matrix (white phase). It can be well observed from low
magnification SEM images (200x) of Ti6Al4V-HA composites
(Fig. 2A–C), that in all the studied cases, the HA particles are well
dispersed in the Ti6Al4V matrix and also well attached to the matrix.
Also by increasing the HA content it has tendency to form some small
Fig. 1. Microstructure of Ti6Al4V alloy.
M. Buciumeanu et al. Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84

200× magnification

1000× magnification

Fig. 2. Microstructure of Ti6Al4V-HA composites: A. Ti-5HA; B. Ti-10HA and C. Ti-15HA.

agglomerates, but cannot be observed a significant difference in
composites similarity. Slightly higher agglomerates can be observed
in the case of Ti-10HA composite.
From the SEM images with higher magnification (Fig. 2 - 1000x) of
Ti6Al4V-HA composites it can be concluded that the HA addition
induces some porosity. The Ti-15HA composites showed the higher
porosity rates (2.24 ± 0.08%), followed by Ti-10HA composite (1.34 ±
0.14%). The lower porosity rates were obtained for Ti-5%HA composite
(0.54 ± 0.20%). As stated in [21] the increase of porosity with the
addition of HA into a metal matrix is related with dehydration
mechanism of HA particles during sintering process. The increase of
porosity with addition of HA was also observed by Bovand et al. [33] in
a studied range of HA additions from 10% to 30% w/w.
Fig. 3A shows a detailed view of marked area on Fig. 2B (Ti-10HA
composite). The EDS analysis revealed the presence of P and Ca,
indicating the presence of HA particles inside the pore. In another
study of the same authors [36] it has been already proved by XRD
analysis that no substantial degradation of HA occurred during the hot
pressing process. It was also proved that even after the shear tests, the
HA particles remained well attached to the Ti6Al4V matrix.

Fig. 3. A Detailed view of marked area on Fig. 2 B (Ti-10HA composite) and B. EDS spectra at the marked areas (Z1 and Z2).

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M. Buciumeanu et al.
600
500
Hardness (HV)
400
300
200
100
0
Ti Ti-5HA Ti-10HA Ti-15HA
Materials
Fig. 4. Hardness of the Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V-HA composites as a function of the HA
particles content.
3.2. Hardness values
Fig. 4 shows the hardness results for Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V-HA
composites as a function of the HA particles content.
The average hardness obtained for the Ti6Al4V samples was 344
HV ± 14. Reinforced by HA particles, the hardness value of Ti-10HA
composite is higher than of Ti-5HA composite and increased with
about 40% as compare to Ti6Al4V alloy. The Vickers hardness
decreases when the HA content is further increased (for Ti-15HA).
So, it can be seen that the hardness of the composite is maximized for a
HA content of approximately 10%, and that higher values are detri-
mental to this property. It should be also highlighted that in spite of the
fact that HA has well known poor mechanical properties the hardness
value of HA (480HV) [35] is higher than the hardness value of Ti6Al4V
alloy (344HV) used.
When the HA particles are added to the Ti6Al4V alloy, till a HA
content of approximately 10% (vol%) behave like a reinforcement
increasing the hardness values, while after this amount is exceeded
(15% of HA) the strength of the composite decreases with porosity
increasing [45]. As reported by Bovand et al. [33], the decrease of
hardness when a higher HA amount is added to a metal matrix is
related to the formation of HA agglomerates and also to non-uniform
distribution of HA particles.
An increase of hardness with the addition of HA into titanium
matrix is in accordance with some other studies [33,35]. The increase
of hardness was attributed to the presence of HA particles and was
explained based on the structure refinement. The increase of hardness
with addition of HA as reported by Bovand et al. [33] was attributed to
the fact that HA particles act as barriers against dislocations. As
reported by Kumar et al. [23] in their study about hydroxyapatite-
titanium composites by adding Ti to a hydroxyapatite matrix the
hardness decreased as compared to monolithic HA. Morks et al. [46]
in their study about silica and titanium-reinforced hydroxyapatite
composite coatings reported an increase of hardness. The increase of
hardness was attributed to the diffusion of the melted titanium
particles between the HA particles.
3.3. Evolution of the open circuit potential (OCP) and coefficient of
friction (COF)
Fig. 5 shows the evolution of OCP as o function of time before,
during and after tribocorrosion test conducted on Ti6Al4V alloy and
Ti6Al4V-HA composites in artificial saliva solution.
This is a typical evolution of the OCP as a function of time in the
case of a tribocorrsion tests [47–49]. Before the reciprocating sliding
test, when no load is applied the OCP of both Ti6Al4V alloy and
Ti6Al4V-HA composites stabilized at an approximately constant va-
lues, which confirm the presence of the passive film on the surfaces
[11,49]. When the load was applied and the reciprocating sliding
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Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
0
-0.2
OCP (V vs. SCE)
-0.4
Ti
Ti-5HA
-0.6
Ti-10HA
Ti-15HA
-0.8
Time (s)
Fig. 5. Evolution of OCP recorded before, during and after sliding in artificial saliva.
movement was started a sudden decrease in OCP values was observed,
which confirm the removal of the passive film [40]. At the end of 1800 s
of sliding, when the load was released, the OCP value came back to the
approximately the same value recorded during stabilization period
[49], which means that the surfaces of Ti6Al4V alloy and of Ti6Al4V-
HA composites regained their passive film (repassivation).
During sliding, a slightly lower OCP value were obtained for
Ti6Al4V-HA composites (−0.63 and −0.53 V vs. SCE), as compared
to Ti6Al4V alloy (−0.72 V vs. SCE). It indicates that the corrosion was
improved with the addition of HA particles. A lower tendency to
corrosion when the HA particles were added to a metallic matrix
(CoCrMo) was also reported in other study [43]. The lowest tendency to
corrosion within the testing conditions was obtained for Ti-15HA.
Similar behaviour of the OCP of Ti6Al4V alloy was reported in
another studies [4,49]. Totolin et al. [49] in their study about
hydroxyapatite/nano-TiO2 composite coatings in Ti6AL4V substrate,
reported that the OCP in the case of Ti6Al4V alloy stabilized at around
−0.25V, and during sliding it decrease to −0.3V. This lower drop was
attribute to the lower value of normal load used (100 mN). By using a
hydroxyapatite/nano-TiO2 composite coatings in Ti6AL4V substrate, it
was reported an improvement on the wear corrosion behaviour.
Fig. 5 displays the evolution of the coefficient of friction (COF)
during the tribocorrosion tests conducted on Ti6Al4V alloy and
Ti6Al4V-HA composites against Al2O3 ball in saliva artificial solution.
The increase of COF at the beginning of sliding is matching with the
decrease of OCP values (Figs. 5 and 6) [43]. It can be observed from
Fig. 5 that during the sliding, the OCP have some fluctuations in the
case of Ti6Al4V-HA composites. It should be remarked that these
fluctuations are decreasing with increasing HA content. The OCP is
more stable in the case of Ti-15HA composite. As it was already
explained in another paper of the same authors this means that there is
better stability between the mechanical depassivation and electroche-
mical repassivation [43].
Fig. 7 presents the average COF (during the steady state regime) for
Ti6Al4V and Ti-HA composites.
Concerning the COF mean values, an increase was found in case of
all Ti6Al4V-HA composites (the COF was around 0.46) as compared to
Ti6Al4V alloy (the COF was around 0.36). The COF values obtained in
this study for Ti6Al4V-HA composites did not significantly differ.
Regarding the increase of COF with the addition of HA, is attributed
to the presence of HA phase (that is harder than Ti6AL4V alloy) that
increased the hardness of the composites and it is more difficult to cut
down the picks of roughness, thus it is expected more abrasion of HA
particles and a harder matrix.
For example the COF values reported by Kumar et al. [23] for HA–
10Ti composite under wet condition were around 0.45 that is similar
with the values reported in this study. They reported that the COF value
for monolithic HA was around 0.4, and the increase of COF value in the
case of the composite was attributed to the presence of titanium.
M. Buciumeanu et al. Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84

Fig. 6. Evolution of COF with sliding distance for samples: A. Ti6Al4V; B. Ti-5HA; C. Ti-10HA and D. Ti-15HA.

0.60 addition of HA to Ti6Al4V led to a decrease on shear strength.

It can be seen that till 10% of HA added to titanium matrix, the
hardness may explain the wear behaviour, while in the case of 15% of
0.40 HA the wear rate cannot be explained based on hardness values. Also,
Kumar et al. [23] in their study about hydroxyapatite-titanium
COF

0.20
0.00
Ti Ti-5HA Ti-10HA
Materials
Fig. 7. COF of hot-pressed Ti6Al4V alloy and Ti6Al4V-HA composites.
3.4. Specific wear rate
Fig. 8 shows the specific wear rate after the tribocorrosion tests of
Ti6Al4V alloy and Ti6Al4V-HA composites samples.
Although the wear rate remains in the same order of magnitude
(10−4 mm3 N−1 m−1) it can be seen from Fig. 8a systematic decrease in
the wear rate with the addition of HA content as comparing to the wear
rate of the Ti6Al4V alloy. It should be highlighted that wear results do
not corroborate the results obtained from the mechanical tests reported
in another study of the same authors [36], where was shown that the
composites did not find a correlation between wear rate and hardness.
Porosity is another factor that has a substantial effect on the sliding
wear behaviour [50], and based on wear conditions this effect may be
beneficial or detrimental. Under dry conditions the porosity will have a
detrimental effect on the wear resistance (the presence of porosity can
contribute to crack propagation), increasing the abrasive wear, while in
Ti-15HA
wet conditions the porosity may increase the wear resistance (the pores
may act as lubricant reservoir) [51,52]. As the wear tests were carried
out in artificial saliva that has lubricating effect during wear process
[53], this may explain the systematic decrease in the wear rate with the
addition of HA content (in spite of increasing porosity with addition of
HA to Ti6Al4V matrix and decreasing hardness in the case of Ti-15HA
composite).
It is well known the poor wear resistance of titanium [9], which
increases its degradation in body environments, releasing metallic ions
to surrounding tissues [10,11]. So, the Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposites may
enhance the toxicity problem reported in the case of Ti and its alloys.
3.5. Morphological aspects of surfaces after the tribocorrosion tests

9.E-04 FEG-SEM images of the centre area of the wear track (×150
magnification) after tribocorrosion tests of Ti6Al4V alloy and
Ti6Al4V-HA composites against alumina in the presence of artificial
saliva are shown in Fig. 9. The sliding directions are shown by the
k [mm3N-1m-1]

6.E-04
arrows in Fig. 9.
FEG-SEM images with higher magnification (×750) of the wear
tracks after tribocorrosion tests of Ti6Al4V alloy and Ti6Al4V-HA
3.E-04 composites against alumina in the presence of artificial saliva are
shown in Fig. 10.
The EDS spectrum presented in Fig. 11 indicates the presence of Ti
0.E+00 on the alumina ball after sliding against Ti-5HA composite. The
Ti Ti-5HA Ti-10HA Ti-15HA tribolayer observed in the SEM image of the alumina ball, confirm
Materials the adhesive wear mechanism.
Fig. 8. Specific wear rate k (mm3 N−1 m−1) of hot-pressed Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al4V-HA It can be seen that the Ti6Al4V alloy worn surface (Fig. 7A) presents
composites as a function HA particles content. a rougher appearance than the Ti6Al4V-HA composites worn surfaces

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M. Buciumeanu et al. Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84

Fig. 9. FEG-SEM images of the centre area of the wear track (150× magnification) formed after tribocorrosion tests: A. Ti6Al4V; B. Ti-5HA; C. Ti-10HA and D. Ti-15HA.

(Fig. 7B–D), thus denoting a higher level of surface degradation of
Ti6Al4V alloy surface, which is in accordance with the obtained specific
wear rate values (Fig. 8) and also with the OCP results (Fig. 5). This
confirms once again the well-known poor wear behaviour titanium and
titanium alloys in body environments [11].
Concerning wear mechanisms, it can be noted the sliding grooves
(aligned with the sliding direction) on all the samples, being attributed
to the abrasive wear (Figs. 9 and 10). The largest wear track area and
deeper grooves can be obtained in the case of Ti6Al4V alloy (Fig. 9A).
From the SEM images with higher magnifications (Fig. 10) in the

Fig. 10. FEG-SEM images of the wear track (750× magnification).

82
M. Buciumeanu et al.
Fig. 11. SEM image and EDS spectrum of the Al2O3 surface the counter material surface after sliding against Ti-5HA sample.
case of Ti6Al4V alloy (Fig. 10A) it can be observed localized plastic
deformation, denoting adhesion and abrasion as the main wear
mechanisms. The abrasion is due to hard alumina ball, while adhesion
occurred due to material transfer from the alloy to the alumina ball.
In the case of Ti6Al4V-HA composites, the worn surfaces morphol-
ogy denotes a smooth appearance, with shallow grooves aligned
parallel to the sliding motion (Fig. 9 B–D) which are better evidenced
in the case of high magnification (Fig. 10B–D). It can be better
observed from Fig. 9 that the width of the wear track is decreasing
with increasing HA content, indicating less plastic deformation (less
abrasion).
These observations are in accordance with the specific wear rate
results (Fig. 8). The smother wear track area observed on the SEM
images of all Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposites is attributed to the load
carrying effect of the HA particles. So, by increasing the HA content the
contact area between HA and alumina ball (ceramic-ceramic contact)
increased which may decrease the adhesive and abrasive action
between contacting bodies.
The main contributions of the reinforcement are: (i) strengthening
effect of the Ti6Al4V matrix HA particles (HA increased the hardness of
the composite till 10%HA); and (ii) HA particles act like load bearing
elements (during sliding the HA particles support the load and prevent
the contact between the Ti6Al4V matrix and the alumina ball).
The reason behind the decrease of the wear rate values with the
increase of HA content in the Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposite may be linked
to the well distributed of HA, that protects the surface due to the good
bonding between the reinforcement and matrix.
4. Conclusions
From the present investigation on the sliding wear behaviour of
Ti6Al4V/ Al2O3 and Ti6Al4V-HA composites/Al2O3 tribopairs, in the
presence of artificial saliva, the following conclusions can be drawn:
– Ti biocomposites reinforced by HA were successfully produced by
hot-pressing technique,
– addition of HA into the Ti6Al4V matrix showed a significant
influence on the tribocorrosion behaviour,
– the specific wear rates of all Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposites were lower
than that obtained for Ti6Al4V alloy;
– Ti6Al4V-HA biocomposites presented lesser tendency to corrosion
under sliding in artificial saliva solution at 37 °C.
The introduction of HA seems to be a good choice for Ti6Al4V alloy,
as the combination of these lead to improvement on both wear and
corrosion behaviour of biocomposite materials. So, it can be concluded
that the Ti-HA biocomposites are good candidates for the realization of
improved prosthesis.
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Tribology International 107 (2017) 77–84
Acknowledgements
This work has been supported by FCT (Fundaçãopara a Ciência e
Tecnologia -Portugal) in the scope of the projects UID/EEA/04436/
2013 and NORTE-01–0145-FEDER-000018-HAMaBICo.
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