Electrolytic Plasma Polishing of Copper

Abstract

Modern industrial technological processes require special preparation of metal surfaces. Currently, there are different methods of surface treatment of metal. Among them, it is possible to distinguish the method of electrolytic-plasma polishing (PEP– plasma electrolytic polishing) is distinguished as an innovative, due to its ecological properties, low energy consumption per unit of surface to be processed, high speed of modification and the possibility of processing parts of complex geometric shape. The main advantage of this method of surface modification is its ecological purity, which makes it possible to apply this technology to the food and pharmaceutical industry. Despite the large number of journal publications, electrolytic plasma polishing remains an innovative surface modification method that needs to be thoroughly studied in order to improve understanding of physical processes and optimize the surface modification process. The process of obtaining electrolytic plasma polishing of copper products in a solution of ammonium sulfate with the addition of sulfuric acid is considered in the paper. The experiment was divided into two stages. At first, the samples were treated for 600 seconds each for the obtain of temperature characteristics, with a strong correlation between the load current and the electrolyte temperature was observed. Dependence of the current on the temperature of the electrolyte showed four different modes of treatment. One of the modes showed the best results. During the second series of experiments, the processing of objects from 30 to 600 seconds. As a result of the conducted studies, optimal regimes for polishing copper objects were obtained.

An Investigation into the Deterioration of Copper Surface Quality in Plasma Electrolytic Polishing

“…4 An environmentally friendly electrolyte (typically a salt solution with some complexion agents added) was used to polish parts through the plasma vapor film generated under high voltage, resulting in fast polishing speed and high efficiency. 5 Despite the fact that PEP research has been extended to various fields and metals and has successfully been applied to the polishing of some parts with complex structures, [6][7][8][9][10] PEP still faces some problems that limit its wide application. It is especially difficult to achieve high surface quality after polishing on some narrow structures, such as deep grooves.…”