Abstract
The titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V is used in many industries including aviation, automobile manufacturing, and medical equipment, because of its low density, extraordinary corrosion resistance and high specific strength. Electrochemical machining (ECM) is a non-traditional machining method that allows applications to all kinds of metallic materials in regardless of their mechanical properties. It is widely applied to the machining of Ti-6Al-4V components, which usually takes place in a multicomponent electrolyte solution. In this study, a 10% NaNO3 solution was used to make multiple holes in Ti-6Al-4V sheets by through-mask electrochemical machining (TMECM). The polarization curve and current efficiency curve of this alloy were measured to understand the electrical properties of Ti-6Al-4V in a 10% NaNO3 solution. The measurements show that in a 10% NaNO3 solution, when the current density was above 6.56 A·cm−2, the current efficiency exceeded 100%. According to polarization curve and current efficiency curve, an orthogonal TMECM experiment was conducted on Ti-6Al-4V. The experimental results suggest that with appropriate process parameters, high-quality holes can be obtained in a 10% NaNO3 solution. Using the optimized process parameters, an array of micro-holes with an aperture of 2.52 mm to 2.57 mm and maximum roundness of 9 μm were produced using TMECM.
Highlights
Titanium alloys have multiple applications in the automobile industry, mechanical machining, medical equipment, and other industries
An analysis of the results of the orthogonal experiment suggests that a through-mask electrochemical machining (TMECM) process using a 10% NaNO3 solution is capable of producing micro-holes with uniform diameters, high surface quality, good morphology, and small tapers, when the voltage is 35 V, pulse frequency is 400 HZ, and duty ratio is 20%
An analysis of the experimental data can lead to the following conclusions: 1. The electric electrochemical characteristics of TC4 in NaNO3 solution were researched and polarization curve and current efficiency curve were obtained
Summary
Machining of Ti-6Al-4V in NaNO3 solution received: 29 June 2016 accepted: 23 September 2016. The polarization curve and current efficiency curve of Ti-6Al-4V in a 10% NaNO3 solution were measured in order to discover its electrical properties in this electrolyte. If the processing voltage reaches the polarization voltage during ECM, the dissolution rate of the material depends on the current density in the electrolyte[11]. As the processing voltage increased beyond 6.6 V, the current efficiency of Ti-6Al-4V gradually increased, indicating that this alloy is machinable in this electrolyte solution. Both the fixtures and masks are connected to the negative pole of a current source and the workpiece is connected to the positive pole As both the upper and lower surfaces of the work-piece are machined simultaneously, the micro-holes that are produced have small tapers and steep walls
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