Abstract This paper conceives an electropolishing sample preparation procedure aimed at characterization of titanium (Ti) and its alloys using electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD). Specifically, it is shown that a single non-acid, ethanol-ethylene glycol-NaCl electrolyte solution can be used to electropolish Ti and its alloys for obtaining high-quality EBSD datasets. As a result, the use of hazardous acids common in standard Ti metallographic preparation procedures, such as hydrofluoric, perchloric, and sulfuric acid, can be circumvented. Moreover, electropolishing Ti with an ethanol-ethylene glycol-NaCl electrolyte is performed at room temperature with low voltage, as opposed to the low temperatures and/or high voltages used when electropolishing Ti in traditional solutions. The utility of the novel procedure is demonstrated on samples of pure α-Ti before and after plastic deformation and on samples of alloy Ti-6Al-4V created by additive manufacturing (AM) in stress-relived and heat-treated conditions. EBSD scans performed on undeformed pure α-Ti had high-quality diffraction patterns, which allowed for large areas to be scanned at fast speeds without sacrificing indexing accuracy. The electropolishing created excellent surfaces on the deformed pure α-Ti sample despite elevated lattice strains and numerous deformation twins in its microstructure. It also allowed for detailed EBSD mapping of fine sub-grain features in AM Ti-6Al-4V despite the alloying additions of aluminum and vanadium, the inhomogeneous AM microstructure, and the different processing conditions. It is anticipated that the major breakthrough achieved in this work will streamline and make safer future metallographic studies of Ti and its alloys.

中文翻译：

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非酸、酒精基电解抛光能够对钛及其合金进行高质量的电子背散射衍射表征：在纯钛和 Ti-6Al-4V 中的应用

摘要 本文构思了一种电解抛光样品制备程序，旨在使用电子背散射衍射 (EBSD) 表征钛 (Ti) 及其合金。具体来说，它表明可以使用单一的非酸性乙醇-乙二醇-NaCl 电解质溶液对 Ti 及其合金进行电解抛光，以获得高质量的 EBSD 数据集。因此，可以避免使用标准 Ti 金相制备程序中常见的危险酸，例如氢氟酸、高氯酸和硫酸。此外，与在传统溶液中电解抛光 Ti 时使用的低温和/或高压相反，使用乙醇-乙二醇-NaCl 电解液在室温下以低电压进行 Ti 电解抛光。在塑性变形之前和之后的纯 α-Ti 样品以及通过增材制造 (AM) 在应力消除和热处理条件下产生的合金 Ti-6Al-4V 样品上证明了新程序的实用性。对未变形的纯 α-Ti 进行的 EBSD 扫描具有高质量的衍射图案，可以在不牺牲分度精度的情况下快速扫描大面积。尽管晶格应变升高且微观结构中有许多变形孪晶，但电解抛光在变形的纯 α-Ti 样品上产生了极好的表面。尽管添加了铝和钒的合金元素、不均匀的 AM 微观结构以及不同的加工条件，它还允许对 AM Ti-6Al-4V 中的细小亚晶粒特征进行详细的 EBSD 映射。