Creation of a hard microrelief on a titanium surface processed by microplasma discharges with a current amplitude of 200 A and pulse duration of 20 ms

The interaction of microplasma discharges with samples made of VT1 commercial titanium was studied experimentally. The amplitude of the current pulses of microplasma discharges was 200 A, the pulse duration was 20 ms, and the number of current pulses was from 1 to 10. After microplasma processing, a 10-μm-thick solid remelted surface layer with an increased hardness formed on the titanium samples. As compared to the initial state of titanium samples, the surface layer hardened by microplasma discharges possesses improved parameters: the microhardness increases fivefold, the maximum admissible pressure applied to the samples during friction increases more than 20-fold, the friction wear rate is reduced by three orders of magnitude, and the friction coefficient decreases sixfold.