Abstract
Titanium and its alloys has been widely used for the design of dental implants because of its
biocompatibility, mechanical properties and corrosion resistance. The powder-metallurgy
process is a promising alternative to the casting fabrication process of titanium alloys for bone
implants design as the porous structure mimics the natural bone structures, allowing the bone
to grow into the pores which results in a better fixation of the artificial implant. However, under
in vivo conditions the implants are subjected to tribocorrosion phenomenon, which consists in
the degradation mechanisms due to the combined effect of wear and corrosion. The aim of this
study is to evaluate the tribocorrosion behaviour of cast and sintered Ti6Al4V biomedical alloy
for dental applications using the cast material as reference. Titanium samples were tested in
artificial human saliva solution with three different pHs (3, 6, 9) and in an acidic saliva with
1000 ppm fluorides (AS-3-1000F−
) by different electrochemical techniques (potentiodynamic
curves, potentiostatic tests and tribo-electrochemical tests). Cast and sintered titanium alloys
exhibit the same tribocorrosion mechanisms in AS independently of the pH which consists in
plastic deformation with passive dissolution, but the addition of fluorides to the acidified
solution changes the degradation mechanism towards active dissolution of the titanium alloys.
