Study on corrosion behavior of ultrafine-grained Ti-6Al-7Nb fabricated by equal channel angular pressing

The aim of this study was to investigate the corrosion resistance of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Ti-6Al-7Nb fabricated by equal channel angular pressing (ECAP) and coarse-grained (CG) Ti-6Al-7Nb. The microstructure of each specimen was investigated by the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) method. The corrosion behavior of each specimen was determined by electrochemical measurement in Ringer’s solution. The surface corroded morphologies and oxide film formed on Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy after electrochemical measurement were investigated by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). EBSD investigation shows that the grain size of UFG Ti-6Al-7Nb decreased to ~0.4 µm, accompanied by low angle grain boundaries (LAGBs) accounting for 39%. Potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) results indicated that UFG Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy possessed a better corrosion resistance. The surface corroded morphologies revealed many small and shallow corrosion pits, which can be attributed to the good compactness of the oxide film and a rapid self-repairing ability of the UFG Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy.