Mechanical Properties and Frictional Wear Characteristic of Pure Titanium Treated by Atmospheric Oxidation

Pure titanium was treated by atmospheric oxidation, and the effect of the treatment temperature on its performance was studied. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, wear testing, and scratch testing were used to evaluate the performance of the treated specimens. In order to evaluate the difficulty of compound formation during the different processing temperatures, Gibbs free energy was calculated. The experimental results show that the surface hardness of the sample can be improved at a certain oxidation treatment temperature. When the processing temperature is 850 °C, the surface hardness reaches the maximum value. The results of the scratch testing show that the hardened layer produced at this processing temperature has excellent peeling resistance. In addition, the wear depth and wear width are also at their minimum values at this processing temperature. Since the specimen treated at a processing temperature of 850 °C provides sufficiently high surface hardness and wear resistance in this research report, it is considered to be the optimal condition during practical application.