Tribocorrosion denotes an irreversible material degradation for several metallic components used in corrosive environments, and it arises from the interplay between chemical, mechanical, and electrochemical processes. In this study, some investigation has been performed to compare the tribocorrosion behavior of AISI 1045 steel and AISI 2205 duplex stainless steel sliding against an alumina pin in seawater. The lowering in the open circuit potential (OCP) of AISI 2205 during the tribocorrosion demonstrates that its protective passive film was damaged by wear and resulted in a wear-accelerated corrosion in the wear track. However, sliding was found to accelerate the corrosion of the unworn areas for AISI 1045, leading to an anodic shift of the OCP. Moreover, the total material loss increased with an increase in the applied potential for both materials. It was revealed that AISI 1045 was more sensitive to corrosion under sliding than AISI 2205. Therefore, pure corrosion loss and corrosion-induced wear constituted the primary reasons for the degradation of AISI 1045 at applied anodic potentials.

The tribocorrosion failure mechanism of nickel-aluminium bronze (NAB) in different halide concentrations of seawater was studied using a pin-on-disc tribometer that was modified to conduct in-situ electrochemical detection during the sliding process. It has been reported that high-halide-concentration seawater provided a good lubricating effect, and thus reduced the coefficient of friction and wear rate of NAB during the tribocorrosion process. However, the existence of halide ions corroded the passive film and hindered the repassivation of the damaged areas in the wear track, resulting in an increased corrosion rate. In addition, the morphology of the wear scar revealed the occurrence of abrasive, delamination, and adhesive wear of NAB in seawater. For the whole range of halide concentration values, a positive synergy between wear and corrosion was proven, and the quantification of this synergy was discussed in detail. The results show that the corrosion-wear synergism was decreased with increasing halide concentration in seawater, and the corrosion-induced wear was dominant in the two synergistic components.