Thermal oxidation behavior and tribological properties of textured TC4 surface: Influence of thermal oxidation temperature and time

A series of thermal-oxide films with different thickness and composition are prepared on textured TC4 surfaces. The friction properties and wear mechanisms are studied. Results show that the method is effective in realizing the optimization of TC4 by laser-texturing and thermal-oxidation. The surface texture can effectively improve adhesion of the oxide film to the TC4 substrate. The thermally oxidized textured TC4 surface treated at 650 °C for 25 h exhibits excellent tribological properties, which is ascribed to the presence of a strongly bonded rutile film with high hardness (7.73 GPa), ratio of hardness to elastic modulus (0.069) and load-bearing capacity.