Alternating chempolishing and electropolishing for interior and exterior surface finishing of additively manufactured (AM) metal components

Additively manufactured (AM) components’ surface finishing is crucial in adopting them for intended applications challenging environments involving fatigue, corrosion, high temperature, and nuclear radiation. In our prior research, chempolishing (C) was utilized as an electroless etching process that uniformly smoothens complex AM accessible interior exterior surfaces (Tyagi et al. Additive Manufacturing, 25:32–38, 22). A wide range of electropolishing (E) has been demonstrated finishing. However, can impact a be juxtaposed to counter electrode yield very smooth sub-micrometer level roughness. knowledge gap exists about the applying both approaches on same one after another what new advantages may arise because combining two methods. This paper uses dual-stage liquid-based strategies produced by alternating steps. Two approaches, i.e., followed (CE) (EC), were performed 316 stainless steel component. Impacts EC CE compared with single-stage C E approaches. An optical microscope mechanical profilometer investigate roughness parameters. Ra ~ 1.4 µm 1.6 µm, respectively. Surface CE- EC-treated samples lower than those individually treated Scanning electron microscopy provided further insights into microstructural difference between samples. reports liquid contact angle study provide relative energy making coatings parts. spectroscopic reflectance also employed register physical properties components reveals industrially practicable metal require minimum tooling real-time monitoring.