Morphology and performances of the anodic oxide films on Ti6Al4V alloy formed in alkaline-silicate electrolyte with aminopropyl silane addition under low potential

Oxide films on Ti6Al4V alloy are prepared using sodium hydroxide–sodium silicate as the base electrolyte with addition of aminopropyl trimethoxysilane (APS) as additive by potentiostatic anodizing under 10 V. APS is incorporated into the films during anodizing and the surface morphology of the oxide films is changed from particle stacked to honeycomb-like porous surfaces as shown by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with Energy Disperse Spectroscopy (EDX). The surface roughness and aminopropyl existence on the oxide films result in their differences in wettability as tested by the surface profile topography and contact angle measurements. The anti-abrasive ability of the anodic films is improved with the addition of APS due to its toughening effects and serving as lubricants in the ceramic oxide films as measured by ball-on-disk friction test. Also, potentiodynamic corrosion test proves that their anticorrosive ability in 3.5 wt.% NaCl is greatly improved as reflected by their much lower corrosion current (Icorr) and higher corrosion potential (Ecorr) than those of the substrate.