Corrosion behavior of near‐alpha titanium alloy fabricated by additive manufacturing

Abstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the corrosion behavior of Ti–6Al–Mo–1.5V–2Zr near‐alpha titanium alloy fabricated by additive manufacturing (AM). Titanium alloy specimens were fabricated by electron beam melting (EBM) and laser metal deposition (LMD). The same titanium alloy manufactured by traditional technology (TT) was used as a control. The correlations between corrosion resistance, microstructure and phase composition of titanium alloys fabricated by different technologies were investigated, through the use of electrochemical corrosion testing, scanning electron microscopy, X‐ray diffraction, and hardness testing. In this study, it was shown that the corrosion resistance of AM samples is lower than TT samples. The corrosion resistance of AM samples was attributed to the presence of more α′ martensite and less β‐Ti phases in the microstructure of titanium alloy than for TT samples. The electrochemical results suggest that titanium alloy fabricated by EBM has better corrosion resistance in 20% HCl solution at room temperature compared to titanium alloy fabricated by LMD.