Effect of oxidation time on the tribological behavior of thermally oxidized commercially pure zirconium under dry sliding conditions

Surface finish effect on dry sliding wear behavior of thermally oxidized commercially pure zirconium

“…Thermal oxidation (TO) of the samples was implemented in an air furnace at 650 °C for 6 h, which is the optimum condition determined previously [11]. The TO process conditions and the structural features of the resultant oxidized layers have been reported elsewhere [11]. The cross-sectional view of the TO sample and the microhardness profile measured in the cross section are shown in Fig.…”

“…Thermal oxidation [5][6][7][8] and plasma electrolytic oxidation [9,10] are currently the most widely used techniques to enhance the surface hardness and wear resistance of Zr and its alloys. In particular, thermal oxidation is a simple process carried out in air furnaces at 550 °C to 800 °C to produce a relatively thick (a few microns) zirconium oxide (ZrO2) layer at the surface and an oxygen diffusion zone (ODZ) at the subsurface [8,11]. Thermally oxidized zirconium possesses a ceramic ZrO2 layer for wear resistance, a hardened subsurface to bear the load and a tough core to provide fracture resistance [6,8].…”

A comparative study of the mechanical behaviour of thermally oxidised commercially pure titanium and zirconium

“…This TO condition was chosen based on many preliminary experiments and previous work, which can produce an adherent oxide layer at the surface and an oxygen diffusion zone in the subsurface of CP-Ti and Ti alloys (Sun et al, 2016;Aniolek et al, 2016;Bailey and Sun, 2013) and in CP-Zr and Zr alloys (Pawar et al, 2011;Alansari and Sun, 2017). This condition also ensured that no phase transformation took place in the core of the CP materials because the oxidation temperature was below the - transformation temperatures.…”

“…Indeed, thermally oxidised Ti alloys have been reported to have the potential use in artificial hip joints (Yamamoto et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2014b;Lieblich et al, 2016), and thermally oxidized Zr has recently been introduced as an alternative bearing in total joint arthroplasty for artificial knee and hip joints (Patel and Spector, 1997;Good et al, 2005;Galetz et al, 2010;Innocenti et al, 2014). Thermally oxidised Ti and Zr possess the desirable combination of a ceramic bearing surface to resist wear and a tough metallic core to resist fracture Pawar et al, 2011;Alansari and Sun, 2017).…”

“…During thermal oxidation, oxygen diffuses into the CP materials to form an oxygen diffusion zone (ODZ) with interstitial solid solution hardening, and once the surface is saturated with oxygen, an oxide layer (OL) develops at the surface. Thus thermally oxidised CP-Ti and CP-Zr comprise an OL at the surface and a hardened ODZ in the subsurface (Dong and Bell, 1999;Alansari and Sun, 2017;Ji et al, 2010;Bailey and Sun, 2013). The OL can improve frictional characteristics and offer wear resistance, while the ODZ can offer load bearing capacity.…”