Jet Electrochemical Micromilling of Ti-6Al-4V Using NaCl–Ethylene Glycol Electrolyte

Abstract

Titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace and biomedicine because of their excellent mechanical characteristics, but these properties also make such alloys difficult to cut. Jet electrochemical micromilling (JEMM) is based on the principle of electrochemical anodic dissolution; it has some inherent advantages for the machining of titanium alloy microstructures. However, titanium oxidizes readily, forming an oxide film that impedes a uniform dissolution during electrochemical machining. Therefore, a high voltage and an aqueous NaCl electrolyte are usually used to break the oxide film, which can lead to severe stray corrosion. To overcome this problem, the present study investigated the JEMM of Ti-6Al-4V using a NaCl–ethylene glycol (NaCl-EG) electrolyte. Electrochemical testing showed that Ti-6Al-4V exhibits a better corrosion resistance in the NaCl-EG electrolyte compared to the aqueous NaCl electrolyte, thereby reducing stray corrosion. The localization and surface quality of the grooves were enhanced significantly when using JEMM with a NaCl-EG electrolyte. A multiple-pass strategy was adopted during JEMM to improve the aspect ratio, and the effects of the feed depth and number of passes on the multiple-pass machining performance were investigated. Ultimately, a square annular microstructure with a high geometric dimensional consistency and a smooth surface was obtained via JEMM with multiple passes using the optimal parameters.

Microfabricating Mirror-like Surface Precision Micro-Sized Amorphous Alloy Structures Using Jet-ECM Process

“…Although Jet-ECM has been frequently used to fabricate stainless steel [ 40 , 41 ] and other metal materials [ 45 ], it has rarely been employed to process amorphous alloy materials. The high-speed electrolyte jet of Jet-ECM can facilitate the effective and efficient removal of the machined products and also can enable the process to be exerted on much higher current densities.…”