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Surface Modification of Ti6Al4V Alloy Using EDMed Electrode Made with Nano- and Micron-Sized TiC/Cu Powder Particles

  • Research Article - Mechanical Engineering
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Abstract

The present study is an experimental work carried on for surface modification of Ti6Al4V alloy using TiC/Cu powder metallurgy (P/M) electrode. Both, machine and tool parameters were selected for study, and these experiments were planned as per Taguchi’s L18 mixed orthogonal array. Optimal combination of parameters was obtained using Taguchi’s method, and analysis of variance was performed to evaluate the influence of parameters on surface roughness (SR) and micro-hardness (MH). Peak current, particle size and pulse on time were found to be the most significant accordingly on both SR and MH. High reactive surface area of nanoparticles made greater surface alloying than the other tool electrodes and has shown its influence positively on both SR and MH. The EDS analysis reveals the migration of Ti and Cu elements, deposition of carbon and diffusion of oxygen particles on the surface. The XRD spectrum confirms the presence of carbides (TiC, \(\hbox {Ti}_{2}\mathrm{C}\), \(\hbox {Fe}_{5}\mathrm{C}_{2}\) and \(\hbox {Fe}_{3}\mathrm{C}\)) and oxides (TiO and \(\hbox {Ti}_{3}\mathrm{O}\)) at different machining conditions which indicates the influence of TON and IP on discharge energies and in turn on the properties of machined surface. The carbides, generated on the machined surface, increased the hardness as high as 912 HV, without much sacrifice of the roughness of the machined surface. The range of roughness values obtained in the present investigation is 1.88–4.449 \(\upmu \hbox {m}\).

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the management of GITAM (Deemed to be University), Visakhapatnam, India for allowing us to utilise the equipment purchased under DST-SERB Project (No. SB/FTP/ETA-0070/2014).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, India

    Venkata Rao Chundru & Ramji Koona

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, GITAM, Visakhapatnam, India

    Srinivasa Rao Pujari

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  1. Venkata Rao Chundru
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  2. Ramji Koona
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  3. Srinivasa Rao Pujari
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Correspondence to Venkata Rao Chundru.

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Chundru, V.R., Koona, R. & Pujari, S.R. Surface Modification of Ti6Al4V Alloy Using EDMed Electrode Made with Nano- and Micron-Sized TiC/Cu Powder Particles. Arab J Sci Eng 44, 1425–1436 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3561-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-018-3561-z

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