STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPOLISHING PROCESS PARAMETERS ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS OF AISI 316L STAINLESS STEEL MATERIAL

• Main Author: Gracia Ginting, Ratu
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Subjects: Teknik (Rekayasa, enjinering dan kegiatan berkaitan)
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/67462
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Electropolishing is a surface finishing process of metal and alloys, achieving a brilliant surface finish with very low surface roughness values. The most common electrolytes for electropolishing stainless steel are varying concentrations of phosphoric acid, sulfuric acid, and glycerol to significantly improve the surface finish. The prerequisite required is a very low surface roughness value. The study was learned from a paper that has tested the electropolishing process with various test parameters, such as electrolyte composition and concentration, current density, temperature, time. This paper aims to examine the fundamental aspects and the latest developments in the electropolishing process to fill the requirements for the use of several industrial products such as food, pharmaceuticals, and medicine. However, with the process mechanism still being discussed, several parameters can still be optimized to get the lowest surface roughness value in one process. The basic theories in the mechanism of material removal from the electropolishing process are introduced. Because electropolishing is a complicated process including electricity and chemical reactions. There is still a blurry theory that can explain the electropolishing process well, especially when some recent developments are established, the material removal mechanism becomes more complicated in understanding. This literature study conducted an analysis of the electropolishing parameters that gave optimal standard results. The study was conducted from two papers that have tested the electropolishing process with various test parameters, namely electrolyte composition and concentration, current density, temperature, and time.