Synthesis of titanium nanotubes (TNT) and its influence on electrochemical micromachining of titanium

Abstract

Titanium nanotubes (TNT) possess unique properties owing to their high surface-to-volume ratio and thus utilized in various applications. For the fabrication of TNT, anodization method is preferred due to its simplicity and low cost. In this study, titanium nanotubes were produced via anodization method and the effect of various parameters such as applied voltage, anodization time, and concentration of H3PO4 in the electrolyte mixture (i.e. NH4F and ethylene glycol) on the average inner diameter of the TNT were investigated. A novel methodology for machining titanium with electrochemical micromachining (ECMM) has been put forward with modification in the topography by producing TNT on the titanium surface. The optimum parameters for producing well-ordered uniform TNT arrays have been found to be 3 hours of anodization with an electrolyte mixture of 0.3 M H3PO4 and 0.3 M NH4F at 30 V potential. The anodization with these optimum parameters resulted in the uniform TNT arrays with an average inner diameter of 48±5 nm. ECMM has been demonstrated on the titanium surface with and without TNTs. It is concluded that the dissolution along the depth direction is higher than the radial dissolution for the titanium surface with TNTs. In summary, the surface with TNTs aids the ECMM machining performance of titanium.