Effect of Manufacturing Process on Electrochemical Properties of CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V Alloys

Ti and its alloys show the excellent corrosion resistance to chloride environments, but they show less corrosion resistance in HCl, H2SO4, NaOH, H3PO4, and especially HF environments at high temperature and concentration. In this study, we used the commercially pure titanium and Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and evaluated the effect of the manufacturing process on the electrochemical properties. We used commercial products of rolled and forged materials, and made additive manufactured materials by DMT (Directed Metal Tooling) method. We annealed each specimen at 760 degrees C for one hour and then air cooled. We performed anodic polarization test, AC impedance measurement, and Mott-Schottky plot to evaluate the electrochemical properties. Despite of the difference of its microstructure of CP-Ti and Ti-6Al-4V alloys by the manufacturing process, the anodic polarization behavior was similar in 20% sulfuric acid. However, the addition of 0.1% hydrofluoric acid degraded the electrochemical properties. Among three kinds of the manufacturing process, the electrochemical properties of additive manufactured CP-Ti, and Ti-6Al-4V alloys were the lowest. It is noted that the test materials showed a Warburg impedance in HF acid environments.