Spatial response of laser powder bed additively manufactured Ti6Al4V to temperature variation of aqueous electrolyte

The electrochemical response of laser powder bed additively manufactured Ti6Al4V is often considered at room-temperature conditions; however, structural Ti6Al4V components in a warm marine environment tend to respond differently. In light of this, the present work investigates the electrochemical response of the Ti6Al4V fabricated using laser powder bed fusion, in aqueous NaCl solution at varying temperatures (20, 35, and 50 $$^\circ$$ C). The potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance measurement also detected the spatial variation of corrosion resistance that was rationalized using a finite-element model which indicated spatially varying thermokinetics. The pitting potential of additively manufactured Ti6Al4V was reduced significantly at 50 $$^\circ$$ C (43.08 $$\%$$ ). The possible pitting mechanism and its thermally influenced activity were realized through the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The microstructural analysis revealed the surface morphology variation within the pit region, which was correlated to the varying energy level associated with grain orientation and phases present in it.