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Electropolishing Moves into the New Millennium |
| by David Pokvitis, Co-Owner Able Electropolishing Co., Inc. Chicago, IL |
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The metal finishing industry has been through some gut-wrenching times these
past years.Ever tightening environmental regulations coupled with shortening
lead times and new technologies has forced many in the field to change with the
times.
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Electropolishing offers an excellent example. The physics of the process are
relatively unchanged from the 1950's, though the applications have grown
immensely the past 5 years. when properly applied dissolves a minute
amount of metal through a combination of chemicals and electrical current. This
surface improvement process has been used on a host of metal parts including
wire products, primarily as a brightening tool. Most wire products that were
electropolished were fabricated from stainless steel to take advantage of the
bright clean end finish.
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Morerecently, design and manufacturing engineers have been applying the process to more functional applications. As the industry has evolved toward tougher
quality standards, new applications including stress relief, sizing and fatigue
life improvement have been put into place. Indeed, as the industry has been
able to control material removal to .0001", entire new wire products in
steel, Inconel, Monel, and other more exotic alloys have been processed.
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As the process has been refined, lead times have shortened as
well. Electropolishing job shops have employed more sophisticated
job tracking systems to turn orders faster for customers.
"We now see literally hundreds of orders a week arrive
and depart by FedEX for delivery times that 10 years ago were
considered impossible. As an industry, we need to remember
that smaller inventories mean shorter lead times. We need
to meet those needs or cease being viable".
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Environmental regulation has had a huge impact on the industry. Literally
thousands of metal finishers, many of them electropolishers
have left the business due to the toughened regulations. These
new regulations have also created new opportunities for the
industry. "We have been forced to be more careful with
our chemicals, and in doing so, have found ways to process
with less waste. Reduced chemical costs have played a large
part in our ability to keep prices from increasing for the
past 10 years".
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| See also.... |
 See Pdf Version Of Article Completed With Photos |
New Ideas to Polish Up Your Profits by David Z Pokvitis, Co-owner
Able Electropolishing Co.
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Bacterial Biofilms Less Likely on Electropolished Steel Article By
Jill Lee,ARS
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Electropolishing Solves Metal Surface Problems for a variety of
industries and metals See examples in PDF format with photos:
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| Brite Ultracleaning and a manufacturer in the semiconductor industry. |
| Micro Finish Improvement a manufacturer of offset printing equipment. |
Brite Passivation and Ultracleaning and a manufacturer in the automotive
industry. |
Brite Deburring and Microfinishing and a manufacturer of spraying
equipment. |
| Brite Passivation and a manufacturer in the medical industry. |
