Surface Treatment of Titanium for Improved Bonding

ABSTRACT:Triton Systems Inc proposes to develop an environmentally friendly surface preparation method for titanium (Ti6Al4V) to address the US Air Forces need for a robust consistent treatment process to replace current methods such as Chromic Acid Anodization, Pasa-Jell treatment and alkaline or acid oxidation. The proposed Phase I effort will demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed technology by furnishing preliminary data on bond strength durability of treated titanium to Air Force epoxy structural adhesives. During the Phase I, Triton will optimize its surface preparation method through detailed experimentation, and demonstrate cohesive joint failure in adhesively bonded lap shear joint test coupons prepared using treated Ti6Al4V. The process that will be developed will address the US Air Forces need for a simple, environmentally safe effective process that could be applied to metallic adherends in both OEM manufacturing environments as well as during field/depot level repairs. The results will also guide the design of robotic treatment systems that will be undertaken in the Phase II and beyond. Triton sees significant benefit from this technology in the overall aerospace industry as well as automotive and medical/biomedical industries.BENEFIT:Triton sees immediate commercial potential for its proposed technology in both military and commercial aerospace industry. The use of titanium in aircraft components and structures has been steadily increasing over the years, hence effective surface preparation methods that do not utilize hazardous chemicals, yet provide the benefits of using structural adhesives will provide significant performance benefits, both in terms of simplifying manufacture, improving bond durability and reducing overall weight. Further, the proposed surface preparation method is highly versatile and can be applied to other metallic and polymeric substrates. Hence successful demonstration of this technology will also find application in other commercial sectors such as automobile and medical/biomedical devices where joining of dissimilar materials is routinely encountered.