Titanium alloys have many excellent characteristics, and they are widely used in aerospace, biomedicine, and precision engineering. Meanwhile, titanium alloys are difficult to machine and passivate readily. Electrochemical grinding (ECG) is an ideal technology for the efficient–precise machining of titanium alloys. In the ECG process of titanium alloys, the common approach of applying high voltage and active electrolytes to achieve high efficiency of material removal will lead to serious stray corrosion, and the time utilized for the subsequent finishing will be extended greatly. Therefore, the application of ECG in the field of high efficiency and precision machining of titanium alloys is limited. In order to address the aforementioned issues, the present study proposed an efficient–precise continuous ECG (E-P-C-ECG) process for Ti–6Al–4V applying high-pulsed voltage with an optimized duty cycle and low DC voltage in the efficient ECG stage and precise ECG stage, respectively, without changing the grinding wheel. According to the result of the passivation properties tests, the ideal electrolyte was selected. Optimization of the process parameters was implemented experimentally to improve the processing efficiency and precision of ECG of Ti–6Al–4V. Utilizing the process advantages of the proposed process, a thin-walled structure of Ti–6Al–4V was obtained with high efficiency and precision. Compared to the conventional mechanical grinding process, the compressive residual stress of the machined surface and the processing time were reduced by 90.5% and 63.3% respectively, and both the surface roughness and tool wear were obviously improved.

Titanium alloys are widely used in aerospace and biomedicine because of their excellent mechanical characteristics, but these properties also make such alloys difficult to cut. Jet electrochemical micromilling (JEMM) is based on the principle of electrochemical anodic dissolution; it has some inherent advantages for the machining of titanium alloy microstructures. However, titanium oxidizes readily, forming an oxide film that impedes a uniform dissolution during electrochemical machining. Therefore, a high voltage and an aqueous NaCl electrolyte are usually used to break the oxide film, which can lead to severe stray corrosion. To overcome this problem, the present study investigated the JEMM of Ti-6Al-4V using a NaCl–ethylene glycol (NaCl-EG) electrolyte. Electrochemical testing showed that Ti-6Al-4V exhibits a better corrosion resistance in the NaCl-EG electrolyte compared to the aqueous NaCl electrolyte, thereby reducing stray corrosion. The localization and surface quality of the grooves were enhanced significantly when using JEMM with a NaCl-EG electrolyte. A multiple-pass strategy was adopted during JEMM to improve the aspect ratio, and the effects of the feed depth and number of passes on the multiple-pass machining performance were investigated. Ultimately, a square annular microstructure with a high geometric dimensional consistency and a smooth surface was obtained via JEMM with multiple passes using the optimal parameters.

Jet electrochemical micromilling (JEMM) exhibits significant potential for high-efficiency and high-quality machining of titanium alloy microstructures. However, during the JEMM process, the machined surface of the workpiece inevitably experiences stray current attacks at low current levels. Due to the formation of a dense passive film on the surface of the titanium alloy under electrochemical action, stray corrosion occurs on the machined surface. Hence, the electrochemical dissolution behavior of titanium alloys at low current densities directly impacts both machining efficiency and quality. This study first analyzed the effects of electrolyte composition and current density on the transpassive potential, breakdown of the passive film, current efficiency, and the dissolved surface on Ti-6Al-4V. The transpassive potential and electrochemical impedance of Ti-6Al-4V were found to be lower in NaCl solution than in NaNO₃ solution. In addition, lower current densities enabled higher current efficiency and resulted in a more uniform and flat dissolution surface. Subsequent experiments used these two solutions for JEMM of complex-shaped microstructures on Ti-6Al-4V. The findings demonstrated that, compared to the NaNO₃ solution, the use of NaCl solution increases the material removal rate by approximately 30%, enhances the aspect ratio by about 26%, and reduces surface roughness by roughly 58%. This indicates that employing NaCl solution can lead to superior machining efficiency and quality.

Difficult-to-cut titanium matrix composites (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V have extensive application prospects in the fields of biomedical and aerospace metal microcomponents due to their excellent mechanical properties. Jet electrochemical micromilling (JEMM) technology is an ideal method for machining microstructures that leverages the principle of electrochemical anodic dissolution. However, the matrix Ti6Al4V is susceptible to passivation during electrochemical milling, and the inclusion of high-strength TiB whiskers and TiC particles as reinforcing phases further increases the machining difficulty of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V. In this study, a novel approach using NaCl+NaNO3 mixed electrolyte for the JEMM of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V was adopted. Electrochemical behaviors were measured in NaCl and NaCl+NaNO3 electrolytes. In the mixed electrolyte, a higher transpassive potential was required to break down the passive film, which led to better corrosion resistance of (TiB+TiC)/Ti6Al4V, and the exposed reinforcing phases on the dissolved surface were significantly reduced. The results of the JEMM machining indicate that, compared to NaCl electrolyte, using mixed electrolyte effectively mitigates stray corrosion at the edges of micro-grooves and markedly improves the uniformity of both groove depth and width dimensions. Additionally, the surface quality was noticeably improved, with a reduction in Ra from 2.84 μm to 1.03 μm and in Rq from 3.41 μm to 1.40 μm.

GH4169 alloy/Inconel 718 is extensively utilized in aerospace manufacturing due to its excellent high temperature mechanical properties. Micro-structuring on the workpiece surface can enhance its properties further. Through-mask electrochemical micromachining (TMEMM) is a promising and potential processing method for nickel-based superalloys. It can effectively solve the problem that traditional processing methods are difficult to achieve large-scale, high-precision and efficiency processing of surface micro-structure. This study explores the feasibility of electrochemical machining (ECM) for GH4169 using roll-print mask electrochemical machining with a linear cathode. Electrochemical dissolution characteristics of GH4169 alloy were analyzed in various electrolyte solutions and concentrations. Key parameters including cathode sizes, applied voltage and corrosion time were studied in the roll-print mask electrochemical machining. A qualitative model for micro-pit formation on GH4169 was established. Optimal parameters were determined through experiments: 300 μm mask hole and cathode size, 10 wt% NaNO₃ electrolyte, 12 V voltage, 6 s corrosion time. The results demonstrate that the micro-pits with a diameter of 402.3 μm, depth of 92.8 μm and etch factor (EF) of 1.81 show an excellent profile and localization.

Zr-based metallic glasses (MGs) are promising materials for mold manufacturing due to their unique mechanical and chemical properties. However, the high hardness of metallic glasses and their tendency to crystallize at high temperatures make it challenging to fabricate precise and smooth microscale structures on metallic glasses. This limitation hampers the development of metallic glasses as molds. Jet electrochemical machining (jet-ECM) is a non-contact subtractive manufacturing technology that utilizes a high-speed electrolyte to partially remove material from workpieces, making it highly suitable for processing difficult-to-machine materials. Nevertheless, few studies have explored microgroove structures on Zr-based MGs using sodium nitrate electrolytes by jet-ECM. Therefore, this paper advocates the utilization of the jet-ECM technique to fabricate precise and smooth microgroove structures using a sodium nitrate electrolyte. The electrochemical characteristics were studied in sodium nitrate solution. Then, the effects of the applied voltages and nozzle travel rates on machining performance were investigated. Finally, micro-helical and micro-S structures with high geometric dimensional consistency and low surface roughness were successfully fabricated, with widths and depths measuring 433.7 ± 2.4 µm and 101.4 ± 1.6 µm, respectively. Their surface roughness was determined to be 0.118 ± 0.002 µm. Compared to non-aqueous-based methods for jet-ECM of Zr-based MGs, the depth of the microgrooves was increased from 20 μm to 101 μm. Furthermore, the processed microstructures had no uneven edges in the peripheral areas and no visible flow marks on the bottom.