Surface oxidation of a titanium or titanium alloy article

摘要

The tribological behavior of titanium or titanium alloy article is improved by gaseous oxidation of the article at a temperature in the range of 500 to 725° C. for 0.5 to 100 hours, the temperature and time being selected such as to produce an adherent surface compound layer containing at least 50% by weight of oxides of titanium having a rutile structure and a thickness of 0.2 to 2 mum on a solid solution-strengthened diffusion zone wherein the diffusing element is oxygen and the diffusion zone has a depth of 5 to 50 mum.