Response of boride coating on the Ti-6Al-4V alloy to corrosion and fretting corrosion behavior in Ringer’s solution for bio-implant application

Abstract

Corrosion and fretting corrosion of boride coating on Ti-6Al-4V (TAV) are investigated in Ringer’s solution for bio-implant applications. Boride coatings are fabricated as a function of temperature (900–1100 °C) and soaking time (1–5 h). Coatings are characterized for phase evaluation, microstructural analysis, thickness and microhardness measurement. The coating contained TiB2 and TiB whiskers as outermost and inner layers respectively. The increasing thickness of outer TiB2 at a relatively higher boriding temperature and time impeded the TiB formation. A large microhardness value of ∼3248 Hv15gf at the outermost surface ( < 5 μm) is mainly attributed to TiB2 layer. Anodic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies reveal improvement in the corrosion resistance of coating produced at increased temperature and time of boriding, yet remained lower than the resistance of bare TAV alloy. The formation of B2O3 and absence of Al2O3 on the surface, as investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), are attributed to an inferior corrosion resistance of the borided TAV. The increase in corrosion resistance with the TiB2 coating thickness is attributed to thickening of the inner passive film formed on borided TAV. A large decrease in fretting damage after boride coating is due to the decline in a synergistic parameter.