Influence of laser power on the corrosive behavior of laser metal deposited Ti6Al4V+Cu in artificially prepared sea water

Titanium alloy is an excellent corrosion resistance material due to its greater affinity with oxygen when exposed to an aggressive medium such as sea water. The protection against attack is due to the oxidizing fume formed into its surface. This paper reports the effect of laser power on the corrosive behavior of laser metal deposited Ti6Al4V alloy with 5 weight percent (wt. %) copper in freshly prepared artificial sea water. The open circuit potential, potentiodynamic polarization curves, and the scanning electron microscope (SEM) morphologies of the entire Ti6Al4V+5 Cu alloy samples had been investigated and reported. From the results obtained, it can be deduced that the laser power is inversely proportional to the corrosion rate. Sample PL3 deposited with a laser power of 1600 W exhibited the best corrosion rate of 0.0123 mm/year when exposed to sea water under aerated condition. The morphologies of the entire laser deposited samples of the scanning electron microscope (SEM) unveiled typical passivity due to the strong inter-atomic bonds between the α/β phases formed with the copper inclusion within the lattices of the titanium alloy.