Electrochemical Properties and Jet Electrochemical Micromilling of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V Composites in NaCl+NaNO3 Mixed Electrolyte

Abstract

Difficult-to-cut titanium matrix composites (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V have extensive application prospects in the fields of biomedical and aerospace metal microcomponents due to their excellent mechanical properties. Jet electrochemical micromilling (JEMM) technology is an ideal method for machining microstructures that leverages the principle of electrochemical anodic dissolution. However, the matrix Ti6Al4V is susceptible to passivation during electrochemical milling, and the inclusion of high-strength TiB whiskers and TiC particles as reinforcing phases further increases the machining difficulty of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V. In this study, a novel approach using NaCl+NaNO3 mixed electrolyte for the JEMM of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V was adopted. Electrochemical behaviors were measured in NaCl and NaCl+NaNO3 electrolytes. In the mixed electrolyte, a higher transpassive potential was required to break down the passive film, which led to better corrosion resistance of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V, and the exposed reinforcing phases on the dissolved surface were significantly reduced. The results of the JEMM machining indicate that, compared to NaCl electrolyte, using mixed electrolyte effectively mitigates stray corrosion at the edges of micro-grooves and markedly improves the uniformity of both groove depth and width dimensions. Additionally, the surface quality was noticeably improved, with a reduction in Ra from 2.84 μm to 1.03 μm and in Rq from 3.41 μm to 1.40 μm.