Synergetic improvements in surface hydrophobicity and wear resistance of TC4 materials via the combination of rapid heating and EtOH quenching methods

• Published in: Journal of alloys and compounds Vol. 970; p. 172582
• Main Authors: Wang, Xueliang, Wei, Sujing, Wang, Xin, Chang, Kaige, Yang, Hejie, Wang, Yaping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 05.01.2024
• Subjects: Hydrophobicity; In-situ deposition; Molecular simulations; TC4 materials; Ultrathin carbon film; Wear resistance; In-situ deposition; TC4 materials; Wear resistance; Hydrophobicity; Ultrathin carbon film; Molecular simulations
• ISSN: 0925-8388; 1873-4669
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jallcom.2023.172582

Ti-6Al-4V (TC4) materials with high hydrophobicity and wear resistance improve anticorrosion performance when utilized in offshore conditions. In this work, a novel strategy for simultaneously enhancing the surface hydrophobicity and wear resistance of surface textured TC4 (selected laser melting, SLM-TC4) materials was proposed. An in-situ deposition of ultrathin carbon film is realized via rapid induction heating followed by the EtOH quenching (IHQ-TC4) process. After the IHQ process, the surface chemical composition evolves from Ti (SLM-TC4) to the mixture of carbon film and TiO2 nanoparticles (IHQ-TC4), and the corresponding surface roughness decreases, which results in a surface wettability transition from hydrophilicity (SLM-TC4) to hydrophobicity (IHQ-TC4, 125°). Molecular dynamics simulations were utilized to explore the wettability transition mechanism, and found that the surface chemical composition evolution is the dominant factor, and the carbon film is responsible for the hydrophobicity of IHQ-TC4. Moreover, the surface hardness and wear resistance of IHQ-TC4 are greatly enhanced compared to those of SLM-TC4. The collective enhancements to the hydrophobicity and wear resistance of TC4 materials via the IHQ process provide a novel and facile strategy for enhancing the anticorrosion performance of TC4 materials utilized in offshore conditions. [Display omitted] •Hydrophobicity was enhanced by induction heating and EtOH quenching process (IHQ).•Surface hardness and wear resistance of TC4 materials were enhanced in IHQ process.•Enhanced hydrophobicity and wear resistance are due to the ultrathin carbon film.•In-situ formation of ultrathin carbon film on TC4 surface is realized in IHQ process.•Hydrophobicity enhancement is dominated by surface chemical composition evolution.