Corrosion and tribocorrosion behaviour of titanium surfaces designed by electromagnetic induction nitriding for biomedical applications

Abstract Titanium alloy is playing an increasingly important role in the field of biomedicine. However, poor wear resistance of titanium alloy will cause premature failure, which greatly limits its scope. Therefore, this study used a self-made induction nitriding device to nitride medical pure titanium (TA1), then the nitriding layer produced was characterized by XRD, SEM and nanoindentation instrument, and its wearability and corrosion behavior were tested, using Hank’s solution. The tribocorrosion behavior and synergistic effect of the sample were studied by means of electrochemical measurement and surface morphology analysis. L-929 cells were also used to analyze the biocompatibility of the nitriding layer. The experiment result shows that TA1 titanium alloy can obtain a nitriding layer about 20 μm thick after 1h’s induction nitriding treatment, which effectively improves the mechanical properties, corrosion resistance and wear resistance of TA1 titanium alloy. Synergistic effects are produced in the process of tribocorrosion, and the corrosion weight loss caused by wear is dominant.