The Effect of Sandblasting and Electropolishing on the Surface Roughness and Corrosion Rate of AISI 316L Stainless Steel

The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of sandblasting and electropolishing on roughness and corrosion rate of AISI 316L stainless steel. The equipment used was sandblasting machine with a working pressure of 5-7 kg/cm2 with a duration of 10 minutes. The silica sand was used with size of 500-800 μm. The equipment used in the electropolishing process is the DC power supply with a maximum output of 2x100A. Anode and cathode material were AISI 316L stainless steel. Electrolyte solution consisted of 96% mass fraction of sulfuric acid and 85% mass fraction of phosphoric acid with a ratio of 1. The parameters used in the electropolish process were voltage, electrodes distance and electropolishing duration process. The combination of sandblasting and electropolishing cause the decrease in surface roughness by more than 28 times, from 3.17 to 0.11 μm. The decrease in the rate of corrosion on specimens that have been treated sandblasting and electropolishing by 37%. The optimum parameters for testing surface roughness and corrosion rate contained in the sandblasting process electropolishing for 10 minutes with a distance of 1 cm, duration 20 minutes and voltage 8V.