Electrospark modification of the surface of additive VT6 alloy with high-entropy and amorphous electrodes

Abstract

Unsatisfactory quality of the surface layer of additive products, in particular increased surface roughness, prevents the widespread use of electron beam powder bed fusion (EBPBF). Electrospark treatment (EST) is one of the methods for smoothing and hardening the surface layer. The work shows the possibility of modifying the surface of additive VT6 alloy samples by reactive EST with multicomponent electrodes. For this purpose, the authors used electrodes made of the Fe48Cr15Mo14Y2C15B6 bulk metallic glass forming alloy and the FeCoCrNi2 high-entropy alloy. Based on the results of scanning electron microscopy, it was identified that after EST, both modified layers have a thickness of about 16 μm. X-ray diffraction phase analysis showed that in the case of treatment with an amorphous electrode they contain carboborides of the Ti(B,C) type, and in the case of treatment with a high-entropy electrode – intermetallic of the Ti2(Fe,Ni) type. The modified layers have average hardness values of 19 and 10 GPa and elastic modulus of 234 and 157 GPa, respectively, which significantly exceeds the values of these parameters for the EBPBF-grown VT6 alloy. Electric discharge modification of the surface with multicomponent electrodes led to a decrease in roughness by 8...11 times due to the melting of the protrusions and filling of the dimples with the melt to a depth of more than 50 μm. A comparative analysis of the results of tribological tests showed a change in the wear mechanism as a result of EST of the additive VT6 alloy. Wear resistance increased by 4 and 3 orders of magnitude when using electrodes made of a bulk metallic glass and high-entropy alloy, respectively.

Keywords

• titanium alloy
• electron beam powder bed fusion
• surface roughness
• smoothing
• hardening
• wear resistance
• electrospark treatment
• bulk metallic glass forming alloy
• high-entropy alloys