International Scientific Journals
of Scientific Technical Union of Mechanical Engineering "Industry 4.0"

The possibility of using machine learning methods to predict the results of high-voltage electric discharge treatment of titanium powder in a hydrocarbon liquid is studied. As a result of the work, distribution surfaces for the average particle diameter of Titanium powder. the amount of Titanium carbide formed during processing, and the number of spherical particles of titanium powder depending on the interelectrode gap and the number of pulses, when using spark discharge and with Titanium powder concentration in kerosene of 0.07 kg / dm3, pulse repetition frequency 0.3 Hz and the energy of single discharge of 1 kJ, were obtained.

The results of the estimation for the influence of titanium diboride content in the initial powder mixture on the basic mechanical properties at the tests on tension and compression are presented. It is shown that the porosity of sintered at 1250 0C preforms from TiH2-TiB2 powder mixture increases with increasing of titanium diboride content in the initial charge, which is due to the manifestation of the Frenkel effect at sintering. The values of tensile strength, hardness and elastic modulus, despite some porosity growth of the sintered alloy, increase with the addition of 5 % of TiB2 powder, while increasing the content of the high modulus component in the mixture to 10 % leads to decrease in the level of these characteristics. The plasticity of sintered alloys monotonically decreases with increasing of the boride component content. At compression tests, the yield point and the compressive strength increase monotonically with increase in TiB2 content, despite the increase in porosity of the latter, due to a significantly lower effect of porosity on the value of the resistance to deformation in compression compared with tension. The use of hot forging of sintered powder preforms leads to increase of strength properties and hardness of the composites.

Peculiarities of titanium carbide obtainment by high voltage electric discharge synthesis (HVED) are considered in present paper. Mathematical and physical modelling of processes that occur during HVED impact on “Ti powder – hydrocarbon liquid” disperse system is performed. HVED creates thermodynamic conditions for pyrolysis of hydrocarbon liquid with formation of solid-phase carbon and gaseous hydrogen and for synthesis of titanium carbide during reaction of carbidization between titanium and carbon particles. Regularities of connection between HVED parameters and changes of dispersity and intensity of titanium carbide formation.

The effect of filler concentration of the powder mixture (Ti-TiC-C), synthesized by high-voltage electric discharge (HVED), on the thermal and mechanical properties of epoxy composites, was studied. Basing on the value analysis of destructive stresses in bending (σ), Young’s modulus (E), resilience (W) and heat resistant by Martens (T), a range of powder mixture (Ti-TiC-C) concentration, which allows to increase thermophysical and mechanical properties of epoxy composites for manufacturing equipment in conditions of alternating loads was set.

Ti and its alloys are mostly used for implant production. Their biocompatibility depends on the formation of thin TiO₂ layer on the surface. It can be improved by modification of oxide structure in tubular. For biomedical applications, the adhesion of the coating layers is essential. The aim of the present paper is to investigate the adhesion of TiO₂ nanocoatings on titanium surface.

Commercially pure Ti (CP Ti) and Ti-6Al-4V alloy samples were grinded, etched and anodized. The anodization was done in 0.5 wt.% HF electrolyte with duration of 7 hours for the CP Ti samples and 6 hours for Ti-6Al-4V alloy samples. The adhesion was investigated by tape and scratch tests. The critical loads that generate the first failures during the scratch test are used for characterization of the adhesion of the TiO₂ nano-tubular coating. The critical loads were measured by CSEM-Revetest macroscratch tester under progressive scratching mode. The samples were characterized by SEM and EDX analysis. The areas around the critical load were further observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy for detail inspection of failure mechanism.

It was established that the higher micro-roughness of the surface of CP Ti sample after anodization is responsible for the detachment only of small areas of the nano-tubular coating situated mainly on the top surface. The lower micro-roughness of the sample made of titanium alloy and the presence of large flat areas lead to detachment of large coating’s portions. The scratch test reveals that the TiO2 nano-tubular coating on the CP Ti fails at an early stage (Lc1 ~ 8 N; Lc2 ~ 26 N), while that on the Ti-6Al-4V sample undergoes cohesive failure and completely fails at higher load values (Lc1 ~ 13 N and Lc2 ~ 40 N respectively). As titanium alloy is ductile material with higher strength than the CP Ti, it provides better support for the coating and produces higher critical loads.