ABSTRACT
This research evaluates the performance of Ti-6Al-4V alloy as a dental implant in simulated saliva +fluoride with varying concentration of bitter leaf (Vernomia amygdalina) extract as inhibitor. Electrochemical corrosion analysis and abrasive wear test were used as criteria to assess the performance of the thermally treated Ti-6Al-4V alloy for dental implant application. The bitter leave extract (inhibitor) was characterized using the Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. The as-received Ti-6Al-4V alloy was cut and machined into samples of 15mm�“15mm�“3mm as corrosion coupons and 30mm�“25mm�“3mm as abrasive wear samples. The samples were solution heat treated at 960oC followed by an aging process at 480oC for varying time of 2, 4, 6 and 8 hours soaking time. The samples for wear analysis were subjected to abrasive wear using a three body abrasive wear test machine with varying loads of 5N and 15N and silica sand as the abrasive medium. The corrosion coupons were subjected to degradation test using a potentiostat in simulated saliva fluid without and with varying concentrations of the inhibitor. From the results the wear loss of the heat treated titanium alloy decreased with applied load and the ageing time indicating a 99.05% and 98.21% wear resistance at 5N and 15N respectively. Equally the degradation resistance of the titanium alloy increased with ageing time and addition of inhibitor, with the lowest degradation rate at 2 hour and 1.5 ml inhibitor addition with a degradation reduction of 98.02%.