Corrosion Properties and Passive Film Interface of Inconel 718 in NaNO₃ Solution for Laser-Assisted Electrochemical...

Laser-assisted electrochemical machining (ECM) is an ideal manufacturing method for Inconel 718 (IN718) because of the method's high efficiency and good surface quality, and the basis for and key to laser-assisted ECM is its anodic electrochemical dissolution behavior. In this study, IN718 in a 10 wt % NaNO₃ solution was subjected to innovative electrochemical testing and laser-assisted ECM experiments to investigate its corrosion properties and the passive film characteristics formed on its surface. The passivation-related behaviors and structures of the passive film were investigated based on open-circuit potentials, dynamic polarization, potentiostatic polarization, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. It was found that there was obvious active-passive-transpassive transition behavior, and the structure of the passive film in laser-assisted ECM exhibited pores and defects, resulting in weak corrosion resistance, compared with IN718 under ECM without laser irradiation. The chemical composition of the passive film was obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The results showed that the passive film was composed mainly of a mixture of NiO, Ni(OH)₂, Cr₂O₃, CrO₃, Fe₂O₃, α-Fe₂O₃, α-FeOOH, Nb₂O₅, NbO, MoO₃, MoO₂, and TiO₂. The passive film formed by laser-assisted ECM was rich in NiO and TiO₂ and lacked Cr₂O₃ and MoO₃, which validated its pores and defect structures. A corresponding schematic model was also proposed to characterize the interface structure between the IN718 substrate and the passive film. Laser-assisted ECM tests were performed under different current densities and machining times, and the corrosion morphology of IN718 was identified. Corrosion pits and a loose product layer appeared on the machined surface at low current densities, and the dissolution mechanism was pitting. The quantity and depth of the corrosion pits dispersed on the machined surface clearly decreased as the current density increased. Finally, a quantitative corrosion model was established to characterize the dissolution behavior of IN718 in NaNO₃ solution during laser-assisted ECM.