Tribological behavior of Ti-6Al-4V and Ti-6Al-7Nb Alloys for Total Hip Prosthesis

The aim of the study is to evaluate the friction and wear behavior of high-strength alloys Ti-6Al-7Nb used in femoral stem and compare it with a Ti-6Al-4V alloy cylindrical bar corresponding to ISO 5832-3 part 3/01-07-199 standard. The tribological behavior was investigated by wear tests, using ball-on-disc and pin-on-disc tribometers. These tests consisted of measuring the weight loss and the friction coefficient of samples. The oscillating friction and wear tests have been carried out in ambient with oscillating tribotester in accordance with standards ISO 7148, ASTM G99-95a, and ASTM G133-95 under different conditions of normal loads (3, 6, and 10 N) and sliding speeds (1, 15, and 25 mm·s−1). As counter pairs, a 100Cr6 steel ball with 10 mm in diameter was used. Results show that the two alloys had similar friction and wear performance, although their grain structures and compositions are different. Occurrence of large frictional occurred, is probably caused by formation and periodic, localized fracture of a transfer layer. Higher friction with larger fluctuation and higher wear rate was observed at the higher siding speed. The Ti-6Al-4V wear mechanism transforms from ploughing and peeling off wear at low sliding speed to plastic deformation and adhesive wear.