Abstract Printed circuit heat exchangers (PCHEs) have attracted wide attention in the nuclear energy field owing to their high compactness, strong pressure endurance, and high heat transfer capacity. In situations where corrosion resistance or light weight is required, PCHEs made of titanium exhibit obvious advantages. However, the corrosion resistance of titanium is so high that it is hard to machining titanium using common chemical etching method. Also, etching methods to fabricate fluid channels on titanium plates for microchannel plate heat exchangers such as PCHEs have not been reported in the open literature, therefore the research of producing fluid channels on titanium plates using etching method for PCHEs is demanded. In this work, an electrochemical etching experimental system was established, and the electrolytic machining process using NaCl-containing ethylene glycol as an electrolyte for preparing PCHE fluid channels on titanium plates was studied. To improve the corrosion rate, ultrasonic transducers were added to the experimental system. The influences of the etching temperature and ultrasonic exposure were examined with respect to the etching rate and surface topography. The results showed that ultrasonic transducers with a rated power of 120 W and a frequency of 50 kHz can enhance the corrosion rate by a factor of 4–5 and that the growth trend of the etching rate can be improved with increasing etching temperature. An etching temperature of 45 °C leads to the best comprehensive performance under ultrasonic exposure in terms of etching rate, roughness, and etching factor. Two improved methods including secondary polishing method and pulsed electrode method are proposed to maintain the quality of the surface profile when the etching rate is enhanced.

中文翻译：

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钛印制电路换热器通道电化学刻蚀实验研究

摘要 印刷电路换热器（PCHE）由于具有结构紧凑、耐压强、传热能力强等优点，在核能领域受到广泛关注。在需要耐腐蚀或重量轻的情况下，钛制成的PCHE具有明显的优势。然而，钛的耐蚀性如此之高，用普通的化学蚀刻方法很难对钛进行加工。此外，在公开文献中还没有公开文献报道在钛板上制作用于PCHE等微通道板式换热器的流体通道的方法，因此需要研究使用蚀刻方法在钛板上制作用于PCHE的流体通道。在这项工作中，建立了电化学蚀刻实验系统，研究了以含NaCl的乙二醇为电解液在钛板上制备PCHE流体通道的电解加工工艺。为了提高腐蚀速率，在实验系统中加入了超声波换能器。检查蚀刻温度和超声暴露对蚀刻速率和表面形貌的影响。结果表明，额定功率为 120 W、频率为 50 kHz 的超声换能器可使腐蚀速率提高 4-5 倍，并且腐蚀速率的增长趋势可以随着腐蚀温度的升高而改善。45°C的蚀刻温度在超声暴露下在蚀刻速率、粗糙度和蚀刻因子方面的综合性能最佳。