The corrosion and tribocorrosion of tungsten in 0.01 M H2SO4, without and with the presence of lactic acid and phosphoric acid as chelating agents was studied here. The passive behaviour was characterised using potentiostatic polarization and potential step techniques combined with rotating disk electrodes. Surface analysis techniques (XPS, AES) were used to assess surface chemistry. The tribocorrosion of tungsten was investigated using a tribometer equipped with an electrochemical cell operating at applied passive potentials of 0.2V and 1.0V. Under static corrosion conditions chelating agents were found to enhance passive film dissolution and to decrease the passive film thickness. Despite this, the effect of the investigated chelating agents was limited under tribocorrosion conditions. Indeed, only lactic acid at the most anodic potential lead to significant differences in material removal by impeding the formation of protective tungsten oxide tribolayers. The discrepancy on the effect of chelating agents in corrosion and tribocorrosion was explained in terms of the different involved time constants. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.