Surface integrity of pure titanium strips produced by large strain extrusion machining at varying speeds

Abstract

Titanium Grade 2 strips or sheet metal, a commercial alloy used extensively in airframes, aircraft engines, marine applications, tubing and orthopedic implant/prosthetics, has been manufactured employing Large Strain Extrusion Machining (LSEM) process. LSEM is one of the severe plastic deformation processes (SPD), involving very large strains and shear forces, converting bulk material into very thin strips or sheets in a single pass. The strips or sheets produced by LSEM have improved bulk mechanical properties over the raw material owing to severe plastic deformation. The current work focusses on the influence of cutting speeds on the fabricated Titanium Grade 2 strips by LSEM on surface integrity in terms of surface microstructure, hardness, surface roughness, induced surface residual stresses and corresponding surface corrosion. The study showed that variation in cutting speed has significant bearing on surface characteristics of the strips produced employing LSEM. At comparative lower cutting speeds, surface quality and corrosion resistance of the produced strip is enhanced.