Effect of Pre-Oxidation on Microstructure and Wear Resistance of Titanium Alloy by Low Temperature Plasma Oxynitriding

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00437

Acta Metall Sin

2023, Vol. 59

Issue (10): 1355-1364 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00437

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Effect of Pre-Oxidation on Microstructure and Wear Resistance of Titanium Alloy by Low Temperature Plasma Oxynitriding

WANG Haifeng¹^,², ZHANG Zhiming¹, NIU Yunsong²(

), YANG Yange²(

), DONG Zhihong², ZHU Shenglong², YU Liangmin¹, WANG Fuhui³

^1.Frontiers Science Center for Deep Ocean Multispheres and Earth System, and Key Laboratory of Marine Chemistry Theory and Technology, Ministry of Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
^2.Shi -changxu Innovation Center for Advanced Materials, Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang 110016, China
^3.Shenyang National Key Laboratory for Materials Science, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110819, China

Cite this article:

WANG Haifeng, ZHANG Zhiming, NIU Yunsong, YANG Yange, DONG Zhihong, ZHU Shenglong, YU Liangmin, WANG Fuhui. Effect of Pre-Oxidation on Microstructure and Wear Resistance of Titanium Alloy by Low Temperature Plasma Oxynitriding. Acta Metall Sin, 2023, 59(10): 1355-1364.

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Abstract

Titanium alloys are used in the aerospace industries, chemical industries, biomedicine, marine ships and other fields because of their high strength-to-weight ratio, good corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility. However, titanium alloys have low hardness and poor wear resistance, which limit their applications, especially under sliding contact. Plasma nitriding (PN) is an effective method for improving titanium alloy's tribological properties. PN can produce a composite layer composed of TiN and Ti₂N to improve the friction and wear properties of titanium alloy. However, the high temperature in the nitriding treatment results in a brittle “α-stabilized layer” (a continuous layer of α phase titanium enriched with interstitial nitrogen atoms) and unfavorable phase transformations in the substrate that can impair the fracture toughness, ductility, and fatigue properties. In this study, a low-temperature plasma-composite treatment, consisting of plasma oxidizing and oxynitriding, has been developed to improve the hardness and wear resistance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy. The effect of the preoxidation process on the surface microstructure, phase composition, and wear performance of titanium alloy was studied. The microstructure and phase composition of the plasma-composite layer were observed using SEM, TEM, XRD, and other methods. The results showed that the composite layer of titanium alloy treated using plasma-composite-treatment is composed of compound and diffusion layers, and the phase is TiO₂ (rutile) and TiN_0.26. Microhardness and wear-resistance properties of the composite layer were characterized using microhardness tester, nanoindentation, and reciprocating-friction tester. The plasma-composite treatment can increase infiltration depth of the diffusion layer, surface hardness, elastic modulus, and wear resistance of the titanium alloy more than the traditional nitriding process.

Key words: titanium alloy plasma nitriding hardness plasma oxidizing wear resistance

Received: 15 October 2021

ZTFLH:

TG174.4

Fund: National Key Research and Development Program of China(2019YFC0312100);National Natural Science Foundation of China(51701223);Civil Aircraft Special Scientific Research Project(MJ-2017-J-99)

Corresponding Authors: NIU Yunsong, senior engineer, Tel: (024)23992860, E-mail: ysniu@imr.ac.cn;
YANG Yange, associate professor, Tel: (024)23881473, E-mail: ygyang@imr.ac.cn

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	Articles by authors
	WANG Haifeng
	ZHANG Zhiming
	NIU Yunsong
	YANG Yange
	DONG Zhihong
	ZHU Shenglong
	YU Liangmin
	WANG Fuhui

URL:

https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2021.00437 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2023/V59/I10/1355

Table 1 Parameters of three different processes

Fig.1 Microstructure of TC4 titanium alloy

Fig.2 Cross-sectional morphologies of coatings obta-ined by different processes
(a) PN 3h (b) PO+PN 3h (c) PO+PN 4h

Fig.3 XRD spectra of coating obtained by different processes

Fig.4 TEM image (a) and selected area electron diffraction patterns (b-d) of different regions of sample PO+PN 4h

Fig.5 Hardness (a) and elastic modulus (b) vs depth for the different processes

Table 2 Mechanical properties of titanium alloy matrix and heat-treated samples

Fig.6 Microhardness distributions of coatings obtained by different plasma heat-treated processes

Fig.7 Friction coefficient as a function of time for the coating obtained by different plasma heat-treated processes

Fig.8 Wear rates of coatings and the corresponding grinding balls

Fig.9 3D morphologies (a-c) and cross-section traces (d-f) of wear scar for the coating obtained by different processes (a, d) PN 3h (b, e) PO+PN 3h (c, f) PO+PN 4h

Fig.10 Low (a-c) and high (d-f) magnified wear trace morphologies of coatings obtained by different processes (a, d) PN 3h (b, e) PO+PN 3h (c, f) PO+PN 4h

Fig.11 Enlarged images of the areas in Figs.10a-c and the corresponding EDS results
(a) PN 3h (b) PO+PN 3h (c) PO+PN 4h

Fig.12 Surface morphologies of grinding ball corresponding to samples obtained by different processes after the friction experiment
(a) PN 3h (b) PO+PN 3h (c) PO+PN 4h

Fig.13 Schematics of wear mechanisms for the oxynitriding layer (F_N—positive pressure, v—velocity) (a-d) PN sample (e-h) PN+PO sample

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