Tribological properties of additive manufactured Ti6Al4V against cemented carbide under dry sliding conditions

The tribological properties of additive manufactured titanium alloy reflect its machinability, and further affect the tool wear during machining. This paper investigated the tribological properties of selective laser melting (SLM) processed Ti6Al4V against cemented carbide under dry conditions, with emphasis on the effects of temperature and normal load on the friction process. Adhesive wear is the main wear mechanism between SLM Ti6Al4V and cemented carbide. However, abrasive wear and diffusion wear will also occur under specific conditions. An interesting phenomenon was found that the maximum wear depth reduced obviously at high temperature. The results showed that this was due to the formation of tungsten oxide with lubrication characteristics at high temperature, which reduced the wear.