Tribological investigations of perfluoroalkylsilanes monolayers deposited on titanium surface

Therefore the present work reports a systematic study of titanium modification by fluoroalkylsilanes and surface characterization from the tribological point of view. The vapor phase deposition method was used to modify titanium surfaces by fluoroalkylsilanes and the influence of the used modifier on the tribological properties is presented. The modification procedure efficiency, surface structure and morphology were characterized by secondary ion mass spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The effectiveness of modification of the titanium surface was monitored by the measurement of the wetting contact angle and the surface free energy. The increase of surface hydrophobicity was observed upon the modification by increasing the wetting contact angle and reducing the surface free energy. The tribological performance of various perfluoroalkylsilanes films on the titanium surface was investigated in mili- and nano-newton load ranges. Dependence of the adhesive force and coefficient of friction values obtained in nano- and micro-scale on fluoroalkyl chain length was observed. Nano- and micro-tribological measurements show that titanium modified by fluoroalkylsilanes has lower adhesion and coefficient of friction than unmodified one. The investigation also indicates a decrease of the friction coefficient with increasing fluoric alkyl chain length. It was found that the titanium modified by fluoroalkylsilanes with longer alkyl chains is a prime candidate for practical use as a lubricant in biomedical and electronic applications. -- Highlights: ► Titanium surface modification by perfluoroalkylsilanes was investigated. ► The effectiveness of modification was monitored by the surface free energy. ► The modification procedure correctness was characterized by ToF-SIMS, AFM, FT-IR measurements. ► The tribological performance of modified titanium in differed scale was studied.