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The effect of heat treatment on microstructure, microhardness, and pitting corrosion of Ti6Al4V produced by electron beam melting additive manufacturing process

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Abstract

There has been limited studies on corrosion behaviour of post-processed electron beam melted (EBM) Ti6Al4V, given that the factors affecting corrosion resistance of AM Ti6Al4V remain unclear. This paper proposes using heat treatment method to improve the pitting corrosion resistance of EBM Ti6Al4V. Different treatment profiles alter the microstructure of EBM Ti6Al4V. A clear trend is observed between microhardness and α lath width. As-printed EBM Ti6Al4V exhibits an inferior pitting potential, while heat treatment provided a significant improvement in the corrosion resistance. This study finds that the β phase fraction is a better indicator than the α lath width for pitting corrosion resistance. Solution air-cooled and ageing heat-treated EBM Ti6Al4V exhibits good mechanical and corrosion properties, and even performs better than commercial cast Ti6Al4V.

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Funding

The authors received support provided by Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech). The work was financially supported by A*STAR Industrial Additive Manufacturing Program: Work Package 3 (Electron Beam Melting, Grant No. 1325504103).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, 50 Nanyang Avenue, Jurong West, 639798, Singapore

    Mingzhen Xiu

  2. SIMTech –Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 73 Nanyang Drive, Fusionopolis Way, 637662, Singapore

    Yong Teck Tan, Srinivasan Raghavan, Min Hao Goh & Mui Ling Sharon Nai

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  1. Mingzhen Xiu
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  2. Yong Teck Tan
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Contributions

Mingzhen Xiu: conceptualization, experiment, data curation, writing of original draft and editing. Yong Teck Tan: supervision, data curation, review and editing. Srinivasan Raghavan: supervision, review and editing. Min Hao Goh: data curation. Mui Ling Sharon Nai: review, project administration and funding acquisition.

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Correspondence to Mui Ling Sharon Nai.

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Xiu, M., Tan, Y.T., Raghavan, S. et al. The effect of heat treatment on microstructure, microhardness, and pitting corrosion of Ti6Al4V produced by electron beam melting additive manufacturing process. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 120, 1281–1293 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-022-08839-4

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