Corrosion and wear behaviour of highly porous Ti-TiB-TiN in situ composites in simulated physiological solution.

Highly porous Ti matrix composites can be a solution for some of the major clinical concerns for the load bearing implants such as low tribocorrosion resistance, stress shielding, and lack of biological anchorage. In order to respond to these needs, highly porous Ti-TiB-TiN in-situ composites were synthesized by pressureless sintering using BN as reactant and urea as space holder. Corrosion behaviour was investigated at body temperature, in phosphate buffer saline solution (PBS), by measuring open circuit potential (OCP) and cyclic polarization. Wear behaviour was studied in PBS by reciprocating against a 10 mm diameter alumina ball under 3 N of normal load and 1 Hz of frequency. Results showed that the formation of the in-situ reinforcing phases led to an increase on the hardness and on the wear resistance, as well, neither macro porosity nor the reinforcing phases led to localized corrosion.