Development of Ultral Clean Machining Technology with Electrolytic Polishing Process

Electrolytic polishing is the anodic dissolution process in the transpassive state. It removes non-metallic inclusion and improves mechanical and corrosion resistance of stainless steel. If there is a Bailby layer, it will be removed and the true structure of the surface will be restored. Electrolytic polishing is normally used to remove a very thin layer of material from the surface of metal object. A new electrolyte composed of phosphoric, sulfuric and distilled water has been developed in this study. Two current density, high & low current density regions, have been applied in this study. In this study, In the region of high current density, there is no plateau region but excellent electrolytic polishing effect can be accomplished in short machining time because material removel process and leveling process occur simultaneously. In the low current density region, there can be found plateau region. The material removal process and leveling process occur successively. The aim of this work is to determine electrolytic polishing for stainless steel in terms of high & low current density and workpiece surface roughness.