Electropolishing Services
Electropolishing and Passivation Services:
Pro-Fab's in-house electropolish facility produces a high quality surface finish serving a wide range of industries. Our ISO system combined with our temperature controlled electropolish tank ensures quality control and repeatability. At Pro-Fab we feel that electropolishing is as much a process as an art form. Our skilled technicians can and will give their expert touch to your project, giving it several beneficial metallurgic properties and a mirror-like finish.
What is Electropolishing?
Electropolishing is an electrochemical process by which metal is removed, unlike electroplating, which adds metal. Electropolished stainless steels are better suited to resist the onset of pitting corrosion, crevice corrosion, localized galvanic corrosion, stress corrosion cracking and microbiologically influenced corrosion. The resulting stainless steel surface is microscopically featureless, bright, clean and smooth.
In 1911, E.I. Shpital'skii discovered the phenomenon of electropolishing; however, it wasn't until the early 1950s that electropolishing was brought into the mainstream and utilized on a commercial level. Since that time there have been many advances in the process allowing for several benefits to electropolishing.
The typical electropolish set up is quite similar to an electroplating line (electropolishing is sometimes referred to as "reverse electroplating"). A steel rubber lined tank (Pro-Fab utilizes a Stainless Steel tank, therefore the rubber lining is not necessary) is used to hold a chemical bath. Cathode plates are lowered into the bath; these are composed of lead, copper or stainless steel. These cathodes are installed on the negative side of the power source. The parts are attached to the positive side of the power source via a fixture that is custom built for each application. The fixtures are usually made of bronze, titanium or copper. The work piece is positively charged (anodic) and is submerged into the chemical bath. Applying current to the bath allows for the flow of metal ions through the electrolyte (chemical bath). The metal ions are attracted to the cathode they are dissolved in solution. Gassing (oxygen) occurs on the work piece surface and furthers the cleaning process. Upon completion the work piece is dipped in several cleaning tanks and a drying process which removes any remaining electrolyte and creates a clean bright finish.
Electropolished Products, who uses them?
Electropolished products are used by Semiconductor, Aerospace, Chemical Processing, Pharmaceutical, Nuclear and Food Process industries just to name a few. These industries require ultra clean stainless steel products. Some clients choose electropolishing for esthetic results even when the ultra clean attributes of the process are not required.