| Electropolishing
Electropolishing smoothes, polishes, deburrs and cleans stainless
steel. The process will selectively remove high points on metal
surfaces giving the surface a bright finish.
Conventional
mechanical finishing systems can smear, bend, stress or even fracture
the crystalline metal surface to achieve smoothness or brightness.
Electropolishing offers the advantage of removing metal from the
surface producing a unidirectional pattern that is both stress
and occlusion free, microscopically smooth and often highly reflective.
Additionally improved corrosion resistance and passivity is achieved
on stainless steel. The process micro and macro polishes the component.
Micro polishing accounts for the brightness and macro polishing
for the smoothness.
De-burring
is accomplished quickly because of the higher current density
on the burr, and because oxygen shields the valleys, enabling
the constant exposure of the tip of the burr.
Because the
metal component is bathed in oxygen, there is no hydrogen enbrittlement
to the part. In fact, electropolishing is like a stress relieve
anneal. It will remove hydrogen from the surface.
Another
benefit is that bacteria cannot successfully multiply on a surface
devoid of hydrogen, therefore, electropolishing is ideal for medical,
pharmaceutical, semiconductor, and food processing equipment and components.
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