The Influence of the Operating Parameters of Titanium Electropolishing to Obtain Nanostructured Titanium Surfaces

Abstract

Titanium and Ti alloys have been widely used as biomaterial due to their mechanical properties and high in vitro and in vivo cytocompatibility. Studies have showed that the acceleration of the osseointegration process is associated to the modification of the surface morphology. The aim of this work is to study the influence of the operating parameters of titanium electropolishing to obtain nanostructured titanium surfaces. The titanium electropolishing was carried out with different temperatures (7°C, 18°C and 25°C), current density of 0.19 A/cm2 and electropolishing time of 8 minutes. After the electropolishing process the titanium samples were characterized by Atomic Force Microscopy, profilometry (mechanical profilometer) and contact angle measurements. Preliminary results showed that the Ti nanostructured surfaces formation, strongly depends on the control of operating parameters.

Effects of Shot Peening and Electropolishing Treatment on the Properties of Additively and Conventionally Manufactured Ti6Al4V Alloy: A Review

“…In a comparison of mechanical polishing to electropolishing, surface layer characteristics [151] and corrosion behavior properties [152] are more favorable for the electropolishing of conventionally made Ti-6Al-4V. The literature [151][152][153][154] also indicates that surface roughness (Ra parameter) is affected by the time, current density and temperature of the process, and depending on parameter selection, roughness can increase (Table 13) [153] or decrease (Tables 13 and 14) [151]. Temperature influences material roughness after electropolishing treatment, which is also shown in Table 13.…”

“…Table 13. Surface roughness parameters (Ra) of Ti-6Al-4V titanium alloy after different electropolishing conditions based on [153,154]. Although many previous investigations have reported the properties and electrochemical behaviors of traditional titanium alloys after electropolishing based on different bath components and process parameters, the special surface state of additively manufactured titanium alloys has limited their usage [155].…”