Research on depositing Ni45 alloy on titanium alloy surface by electrospark deposition

Taking Ni45 bar as electrode, a strengthened layer of thickness up to 50 μm was built up on BT20 titanium alloy matrix by means of electrospark deposition. Results of phase analysis by using of X-ray diffraction confirmed that the deposition layer was composed mostly of three phases, NiTi, NiTi2 and Ti. The surface microhardness of the deposition layer was up to 910 HV0.05, about 2.7 times as high as that of the matrix. The hardness at the cross-section of the entire deposition layer showed a gradient distribution. The effects of capacitance and deposition time on thickness of deposition layer were also studied, and results showed that with relatively low capacity and short deposition time the deposition layer without cracks can be obtained.