Evaluation of Tribocorrosion Performance of Ti6Al4V Alloy in Simulated Inflammatory and Hyperglycemic Microenvironments

The poor tribocorrosion resistance of the Ti6Al4V alloy limits its wide applications in orthopedics. In addition, the tribocorrosion performance and mechanism of the Ti6Al4V alloy are not clear in some clinically specific pathological settings, such as peri-implantitis and diabetes. In this work, the tribocorrosion performances of the Ti6Al4V alloy in simulated body fluids (SBF) containing H2O2 and glucose were investigated to analyze the degradation behavior in the simulated inflammatory and hyperglycemic microenvironment. The tribocorrosion tests were carried out on a tribometer equipped with a three-electrode system electrochemical workstation. The material volume loss of the Ti6Al4V alloy in the high glucose environment (6 g/L) is 3.1 times more than that in the glucose-free environment, while H2O2 does not increase the material volume loss. The continuous corrosion product film on the Ti6Al4V surface in the SBF with H2O2 acts as a lubricant in mechanical wear, while the Ca and Mg-containing mineralized film formed in the high glucose environment increases the coefficient of friction (COF) during sliding. These results suggest that diabetic patients may be at a higher risk of the implant failure due to the tribocorrosion. This finding also provides a valuable reference for the placement of titanium-based implants in specific pathological settings in orthopedics.