Study of corrosion resistance in Ti 6Al 4V additive manufactured parts

Laser Directed Energy Deposition is an additive manufacturing process widely extended in industry, whose development is not free of challenges. The gaseous domain in which the process takes place, plays a major role in the resulting quality of the components, even bigger when the process involves a highly reactive materials like Ti 6Al 4V. Titanium alloys are extensively employed due to a combination of mechanical and chemical properties, being one of them their good corrosion resistance. The present work aims to provide an analysis of this corrosion resistance for LMD manufactured parts in comparison with raw material. For this purpose, a manufacturing methodology is described, using a local protective atmosphere to create the specimens, and a methodology for corrosion testing is presented. Results show similar corrosion resistance values for both raw and additively manufactured materials, therefore reinforcing the feasibility of manufacturing titanium parts by means of L-DED additive process.