Wear and corrosion behaviors of Ti6Al4V alloy biomedical materials by silver plasma immersion ion implantation process

In order to improve the wear resistance and anti-corrosion behaviors of Ti6Al4V (TC4) alloy, polished samples were implanted with silver (Ag) ions by plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) technique. The phase composition and element concentration–depth distribution in modified layer were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Auger electron spectrum (AES). Corrosion resistance, microhardness, friction and wear behaviors of PIII-TC4 alloy changed with the Ag ion implantation dose. XRD analysis reveals that the surface modified layer consists of Ag and a small amount of TiAg phases. AES results show that Ag atomic peak concentration is 9.88%, about 14.4 nm from the surface. The maximum nanohardness and elastic modulus of PIII-TC4 alloy increases by 62.5% and 54.5%, respectively. The lowest friction coefficient reduces from 0.78 to 0.2. The test result of potentiodynamic polarization in 3.5% NaCl saturated solution indicates that the sample of Ag ion dose at 1.0 × 1017 ions/cm2 has the best corrosion resistance with the lowest corrosion current density and the least porosity.