Fretting wear behavior of laser-nitrided Ti–5Al–5Mo–5V–1Cr–1Fe alloy fabricated by laser melting deposition

Fretting wear behavior of laser-nitrided titanium alloy (Ti–5Al–5Mo–5V–1Cr–1Fe) fabricated by laser melting deposition (LMD) has been investigated to explore surface engineering for protection against wear damage of laser melting deposited titanium alloy. The morphology and volume of the wear scars of unmodified and laser-nitrided LMD Ti–5Al–5Mo–5V–1Cr–1Fe tested at different frequencies, 10 and 50 Hz, were studied using non-contact three-dimensional surface profilometer and scanning electron microscope. Friction coefficients measured at different frequencies or loading forces were compared for unmodified and laser-nitrided LMD specimens. Experimental results show that laser-nitrided LMD specimens have shown fretting resistance superior to unmodified LMD specimens due to the presence of hard TiN dendrites in the laser-nitrided layer. W-shaped wear scar caused by local rotation of fretting ball at the two ends of the scar was observed. Given a constant loading force of 50 N, unmodified and laser-nitrided LMD specimens exhibited similar friction coefficients and their friction coefficients increased with test frequency. The friction coefficients of both specimens increased with the reduction of normal load, which corresponds to the trend in Hertzian contact model.