THE EFFECT OF ELECTROPOLISHING PARAMETERS ON SURFACE ROUGHNESS AND CORROSION RESISTANCE OF STEEL STEEL AISI 316L

• Main Author: Rodotun, Siti
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/68582
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Electropolishing is widely used in various industries, such as the food processing, pharmaceutical, and biomedical industries. The electropolishing process in the industry is needed to obtain high surface quality specifications such as a smooth surface, easy to clean and higher corrosion resistance. The final result of the electropolishing process depends on process parameters such as electrolyte composition, voltage, current density, temperature, time and others. In this study, electropolishing experiments were carried out on Stainless Steel AISI 316L substrate by varying the parameters such as initial roughness, the distance between electrodes, voltage, time, and electrolyte composition. It was done to determine the effect of each parameter on surface quality in % decreasing of surface roughness (%DRa) and obtain the optimum parameters that produce the optimum %DRa. The experimental results show that the initial roughness and the distance between the electrodes do not affect %DRa, and the parameters of voltage, time, and electrolyte composition affect %DRa. The electropolishing parameter that produces the most optimum %DRa is at a voltage of 7 volts, current density 60 A/dm2, a time of 3 minutes, and a temperature of 65oC with a %DRa of 54±1.97% in 20% v/v H2SO4 85%, 60% v/v H3PO4 96%, 10% v/v H2O, and 10% v/v Glycerol 99% solution. After that, the corrosion resistance of Stainless Steel AISI 316L was evaluated using electrochemical methods with open circuit potential (OCP), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), and tafel polarization test. The test result showed that after the electropolishing process, the corrosion resistance of Stainless Steel AISI 316L increased 94.27±3.75%.