• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.55 no.4
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• pp.236-246
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• 2022

Electropolishing is a surface finishing treatment that compensates for the disadvantages of the mechanical polishing process. It not only has a smooth surface, but also improves corrosion resistance. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to examine the corrosion resistance and electrochemical characteristics in seawater of UNS S31603 with electropolishing process time. The roughness improvement rate after electropolishing was improved by about 78% compared to before polishing, indicating that the electropolishing is effective. As a result of potential measuring of mechanical polishing and electropolishing, the potential of electropolishing was nobler than the mechanical polishing condition. As a result of calculating the corrosion current density after potentiodynamic polarization experiment with electropolishing conditions, the corrosion current density of mechanical polishing was about 6.4 times higher than that of electropolishing. After potentiodynamic polarization experiment with electropolishing conditions, the maximum damage depth of mechanical polishing was about 2.2 times higher than that of electropolishing(7 minutes). In addition, the charge transfer resistance of the specimen electropolished for 7 minutes was the highest, indicating improved corrosion resistance.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.21 no.5
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• pp.360-371
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• 2022

Electropolishing has various parameters because an electrochemical reaction is applied. Accordingly, experiments to determine factors and levels of electropolishing conditions are in progress for various materials. The purpose of this investigation was to optimize conditions for electropolishing using the taguchi method for UNS S31603. Factors such as electrolyte composition ratio, electrolyte temperature, and electropolishing process time were selected. Electropolishing was optimized using analysis of variance (ANOVA), signal-to-noise ratio (the smaller the better characteristics), and surface analysis. Results of ANOVA revealed that only the electrolyte composition ratio among factors was effective for surface roughness. As a result of statistical analysis of the signal-to-noise ratio, the highest signal-to-noise ratio was calculated under electropolishing conditions with sulfuric acid and phosphoric acid ratio of 4:6, an electrolyte temperature of 75 ℃, and electropolishing process time of 7 minutes. In addition, the surface roughness after electropolishing under the above conditions was 0.121 ㎛, which was improved by more than 88% compared to mechanical polishing.

• Corrosion Science and Technology
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.457-465
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• 2023

Irradiation-assisted stress corrosion cracking (IASCC) is one of the main degradation mechanisms of austenitic stainless steels, which are used as reactor internal materials. Slow strain rate testing (SSRT) has been widely applied to evaluate the IASCC initiation characteristics of proton-irradiated tensile specimens. Tensile specimens require low surface roughness for micro-crack observation, and electropolishing is the most important specimen pre-treatment process used for this. In this study, optimal electropolishing conditions were examined through analyzing results of polarization experiments and surface roughness measurements after electropolishing. Corrosion cell and electropolishing equipment were fabricated for polarization tests and electropolishing experiments using SSRT specimens. The experimental parameters were electropolishing time, current density, electrolyte temperature, and stirring speed. The optimal electropolishing conditions for SSRT tensile specimens made of type 316 stainless steel were evaluated as a polishing time of 180 seconds, a current density of 0.15 A/cm², an electrolyte temperature of 60 ℃, and a stirring speed of 200 RPM.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 1997.10a
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• pp.943-946
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• 1997

Electropolishing is the controlled electrochemical removal of surface metal, resultmg in a brilliant appearance andimproved properties. Sometimes described as "reverse plating," the process has a leveling effect, which produces smoothnessand increased reflectivity. Unlike conventional mechanical finishing systems, the electropolishing does not smear, bend,stress or fracture the crystalline metal surface to achieve smoothness. Instead, electropolishing removes metal from thesurface producing a unidirectional pattern that is stress-free, microscopically smooth and often highly reflective. In addition,improved corrosion resistance and passivity are achieved on many ferrous and some non-ferrous alloys. Pure aluminium doesnot electropolish well, if at all, but most other alloys of aluminum electropolish excellently.Therefore, the aim of this study is to determine the characteristics of electropolishing aluminium alloy in term of currentdensity, machining time, temperature, electrode gap and workpiece surface measurementkpiece surface measurement

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.43 no.4
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• pp.199-204
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• 2010

The Co-Cr alloys have clinical histories as dental and orthopaedic implants, and recently as cardiovascular stent applications because they exhibit a high elastic modulus and radiopacity. In order to improve their mechanical and corrosion resistance, electropolishing is employed as the final process. Electropolishing, an anodic dissolution process in the transpassive state, is sensitively affected by process conditions such as current density, machining time, and electrode gap. In this study, the effect of the electropolishing conditions on surface roughness and corrosion resistance is investigated for Co-Cr alloys (L605). The most smooth surface is obtained when electropolishing is performed at 15-20 V for 15-30 sec with a electrode gap of 3.5 mm. It is found out that electropolishing reduces corrosion rate about one-tenth as much.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.49-54
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• 2007

Electropolishing, the anodic dissolution process without contact with tools, is a surface treatment method to make a surface planarization using an electrochemical reaction with low current density. Nitinol is a metal alloy composed of Ni and Ti around 50% respectively which has shape memory effect. Nitinol can be put various applications which require purity and high pricision surface of products. The aim of this study is to investigate the characteristic of electropolishing effect for nitinol workpieces. In order to analyze the characteristics of electropolishing effect, surface roughness and micro-burr size were measured in terms of machining conditions such as current density, machining time and electrode gap. The tendencies about improvement of surface roughness and deburring effect by electropolishing for nitinol workpieces were determined.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.363-367
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• 2016

For the industrial application of electropolishing process, we investigated electropolishing characteristics of stainless steel through increasing the specimen size or electrode gap. In this study, we performed a set of experiment with the specimen size of $10cm{\times}10cm$ and the electrode gap of 1 cm or more. In the view of the electropolishing process, the electrolyte temperature and the polishing time were most important factors compared with the current density and the electrode gap. Especially, the electrolyte temperature most importantly affected surface roughness and current efficiency on electropolishing characteristics. For the industrial application of electropolishing process, it should be considered for important factors such as electrolyte temperature, polishing time, current density and electrode gap, etc.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.17-22
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• 2003

Electropolishing is the electrolytic removal of metal in a highly ionic solution by means of an electrical potential and current. It is normally used to remove a very thin layer of material on the surface of a metal part or component. Electropolishing is able to enhance the material properties of a workpiece and to change its physical dimensions. Also, It is suitable for the polishing of both complex shapes and hardened materials, which are difficult to machine mechanically. therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the characteristic of Electropolishing A12024 in terms of current density, polishing time and electrode gap, etc.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 1998.10a
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• pp.186-191
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• 1998

Electropolishing is the anodic dissolution process in the transpassive state. It removes non-metallic inclusions and improves mechanical and corrosion resistance of stainless steel. If there is a Bailby layer, it will be recovered again. Electropolishing is normally used to remove a very thin layer of material on the surface of a metal component. The aim of this study is to determine the tendencies of electropolishing STS316L tubes in terms of current density, machining time, temperature, electrode gap and surface roughness.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Machine Tool Engineers Conference
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• 2002.10a
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• pp.302-307
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• 2002

In electropolishing, the ion from the surface of the metal is eliminated by means of an electrical potential and current. Electropolishing is being generally known as a replacement for mechanical finishing. In addition to making a surface smoother, it is a more visible means of brightening, deburring, cleaning, stress-relieving and improving the physical characteristics of most metals and alloys. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to investigate the characteristic of electropolishing STS304 and A12024 in terms of current density, polishing time and electrode gap, etc.