Surface engineering of aluminium and titanium alloys: an overview

The ever-increasing demands for higher performance, weight reduction and more challenging application conditions have been the main driver for substituting steel and cast iron components with those made from light metals. However, aluminium and titanium alloys are characterised by a poor tribological behaviour, which has been a severe barrier to tribological applications. This shortcoming can be overcome by means of load, material and component specific surface engineering. This paper overviews surface engineering processes currently used for protection of aluminium and titanium components against wear including nitriding, laser gas alloying, electron beam surface alloying and duplex surface engineering.