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Letter 23057
How to avoid excessive gassing when
conducting electropolishing
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Hi there.
I'm interning for a research institute in Hsinchu, Taiwan for the
summer. Our work here concerns many aspects of mechanical engineering
and material science, but one of the topics I handle is
electropolishing stainless steel samples. I'm supposed to find
optimal conditions for electropolishing through trial and error along
with stacks of reference books my boss gives me. However, this is
still all really new to me.
One of the largest problems in this particular field of metal
cleansing is the issue of pitting. We always have some sort of
irregularity when we polish these samples. My boss is wondering what
type of electrolyte should be used to avoid excessive gassing, which
is one of the main causes that contributes towards pitting. What
"ingredients" should be included in the electrolyte? What other
techniques should we use to avoid this problem? (such as moving
cathode/anode to evade bubbles, spinning, etc) Are there any other
suggestions that can promote optimal electropolish for stainless
steel?
Joseph Huang
- Illinois, USA
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Electroplating Engineering
Handbook --probably in your stack of
reference books--gives about a dozen different formulations, each of
which has its proponents. Straight sulfuric acid is a very common
solution though. It's hard to summarize the wonderful information
you'll find there, but some principal causes of etching are: excess
water building up in the solution, inadequate current density, and
insufficient air agitation.
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Ted Mooney, P.E.
finishing.com
Brick, New Jersey
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