Electropolishing of CuZn brasses and 316L stainless steels: Influence of alloy composition or preparation process (ALM vs. standard method)

International audience; In the present paper, electropolishing behavior of different brass alloys (CuZn39Pb2, CuZn42) in phosphoric acid is studied to observe the impact of alloying elements on polishing quality. In the same way, the influence of the manufacturing process is also evaluated through the comparison of a “standard” stainless steel and a stainless steel prepared by Additive Laser Manufacturing (ALM). An electrochemical study was first performed to determine the best treatment conditions for each material/electrolyte pair and to study the electropolishing mechanism and its kinetic dependence on diffusion. Metallic samples are fully characterized before and after electropolishing …