Degradation behavior of Ti-Nb alloys: Corrosion behavior through 21 days of immersion and tribocorrosion behavior against alumina

Non-toxic and allergic free beta-type Ti alloys are attractive metallic implant materials due to their lower Young's modulus and good biocompatibility, but the corrosion and tribocorrosion behavior are yet to be fully understood. In this study, corrosion behavior of Ti-15Nb and Ti-40Nb alloys was investigated and compared with the commercial Ti-6Al-4V alloy through an immersion period of 21 days. The tribocorrosion behavior was investigated under open-circuit potential by using a ball-on-plate tribometer. Results suggested that the beta-type Ti-40Nb alloy having 51 GPa Young's modulus had lower corrosion and wear resistance as compared to the alpha + beta-type Ti-15Nb and Ti-6Al-4V alloys.This work is supported by FCTwith the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2019 and M-ERA-NET/0001/2015 (FAPESP proc. #2015/50.280-5), CNPq (307.279/2013-8) and FAPESP (2015/09.480-0). The authors would also like to acknowledge Prof. Graca Minas for the provision of the profilometry. I. Caha is grateful for financial support through PhD grant under NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000012 project