Enhancement of the tribological performance and surface wettability of Ti6Al4V biomedical alloy with boric/sulfuric acid anodic film

Titanium and its alloys have many advantages such as acceptable biocompatibility and good corrosion resistance and these advantages make them a widely preferred biomaterial. However, it is also known that they have some disadvantages such as poor wear resistance and insufficient surface wettability. Therefore, to overcome this disadvantages, boric/sulfuric anodic films with different anodization time was formed on the surface of Ti6Al4V. The morphological and structural properties of anodic films were evaluated by XRD, XPS, SEM, Raman spectra, micro-hardness tester, 3D profilometer, and surface tension-meter. Also, the tribological behavior of them was analyzed by a pin-on-disk tribo-tester. The average coefficient of friction (CoF) of the untreated Ti6Al4V alloy is 0.37, while the CoF of boron containing TiO2 anodic films is in the range of 0.04-0.15. Also, the anodic films reduced the wear rate by about 30% compared to the untreated Ti6Al4V. In addition to all these, it was observed that the anodic films changed the surface morphology. It was determined that the produced anodic films were in porous structures and with the increase of the applied anodizing time, the possibility of contacting the liquid with the surface increased.