CHARACTERIZATION AND ANALYSIS OF BIOMEDICAL GRADE ALLOY MACHINED SURFACE IN ALUMINUM POWDER MIXED EDM

The use of metallic powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PMEDM) is an alternative of machining hard and difficult materials. Titanium alloy is one of difficult to machine materials. Titanium alloy is employed in various domains including biomedical. The characterization of titanium alloy biocompatibility of titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V in terms of corrosion, phase analysis and surface sensitivity are prior analysis to its usage as implant. The objective of this research study is to investigate the effect of PMEDM on Ti-6Al-4V machined surface. Corrosion analysis was conducted using linear polarization resistance (LPR) test. XRD was used to examine changes on the nano aluminum PMEDM machined surface and compounds formed using Cu Ka radiation. Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques were used to analysis the chemical composition and oxidizing amounts of the outermost machined surface and evaluate if any contamination from foreign particles. The results show that the corrosion of nano aluminum PMEDM on titanium alloy is about 42% reduced as compared to the corrosion of conventional EDM on titanium alloy machined surface. Electric sparks generated during machining decompose the kerosene dielectric fluid into C and H and is resulting in C deposited onto the machined surface. The results of the titanium alloy machined surface show difference in term of machined surface compositions.