Fretting Corrosion Behavior of Experimental Ti-20Cr Compared to Titanium

Experimental cast titanium alloys containing 20 mass% chromium (Ti-20Cr) show preferable mechanical properties and a good corrosion resistance. This study evaluated the fretting corrosion behavior of Ti-20Cr. Ti-20Cr (n = 4) and commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti, n = 6) disk specimens were used. The fretting corrosion test was performed by electrochemical corrosion at 0.3 V in 0.9% saline solution and mechanical damage using 10 scratching cycles with three different scratching speeds (10–40 mm/s) at 10 N. After testing, the activation peak, repassivation time and surface morphology of each specimen were analyzed. The differences between the results were tested by parametric tests (α = 0.05). The average activation peaks were significantly higher in CP-Ti than in Ti-20Cr (p < 0.01), except at 20 mm/s. In the series of scratching speeds, faster scratching speeds showed higher activation peaks. The maximum activation peaks were also higher in CP-Ti. Slight differences in the repassivation time were observed between the materials at every scratching speed; faster scratching speeds showed shorter repassivation times in both materials (p < 0.05). CP-Ti showed severe damage and significantly higher wear depth than Ti-20Cr (p < 0.05). In conclusion, adding chromium to titanium reduced surface damage and improved the fretting corrosion resistance.