Abstract
Surface melting using a tungsten metal arc heat source in a shielding atmosphere of pure nitrogen, argon-nitrogen mixture, and pure argon was performed with the objective of improving the tribological behaviour of a Ti-6Al-4 V alloy. The use of standard micro hardness measurements and wear assessment techniques showed the superior wear behaviour of the surfaces treated either under an argon-nitrogen or a nitrogen gas shield. Metallographic and X-ray diffraction techniques attribute this to the formation of titanium nitrides in the resolidified region. The wear behaviour was found to correlate with scanning elecron microscopy observations showing that the presence of hard titanium nitrides at the modified surface changes the mechanism of wear from severe plastic deformation to adhesion.
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