Surface Treatment
& Finishing
Partner with Faraday to enable surface finishing and shaping of complex materials!
Explore Our Electrochemical Surface Finishing Technologies
Explore Our Electrochemical Surface Finishing Technologies
Faraday develops scalable electrochemical finishing approaches to radius, polish, deburr, shape and create a wide range of surfaces for improved performance. The following examples demonstrate Electrochemical Polishing of a wide range of materials (both additively manufactured and wrought), Electrochemical Machining to produce targeted shapes and structures, and Electrochemical Blade Sharpening/ Deburring to create a sharp, snag-free finish, and Through Mask Etching to create targeted channels or passages.
The FARADAYIC ® ElectroFinishing process uses benign electrolytes to polish, shape, and deburr to create targeted surface textures and high performance shapes. The approach has been shown to work with simple environmental and worker friendly salt-based electrolytes while greatly reducing manufacturing costs and increasing the manufacturing throughput.
These processes have been proven to:
- Improve process robustness
- Reduce chemical maintenance
- Simplify scale up
- Control surface texture and shape
- Reduce manufacturing costs
- Eliminate Tool Wear
Click tab to see examples, publications, patents and awards
Medical Alloy Polishing
Simple, water-based, hydrofluoric acid-free chemistries enable electropolishing of strongly passive alloys, including:
- Molybdenum
- Nitinol
- Titanium-Aluminum-Niobium
- Titanium-15% Molybdenum
Publications & Awards:
U.S. Patent Application:
Maria Inman, E. Jennings Taylor, Alonso Lozano-Morales, Holly Garich, Timothy D. Hall. “Electrochemical System and Method for Machining Strongly Passivating Metals”
Electropolishing of Niobium / Tantalum
-
Water-based, hydrofluoric acid (HF)-free polishing method
Note: conventional polishing method is water-free or contains hydrofluoric acid, with difficult process control - Surface finishes <0.2 μm achievable
U.S. Patents:
E. Jennings Taylor, Maria Inman, Timothy D. Hall “Electrochemical system and method for electropolishing hollow metal bodies.”
E. Jennings Taylor, Maria Inman, Timothy D. Hall “Electrochemical System and Method for Electropolishing Superconductive Radio Frequency Cavities.”
Publications & Awards:
- Electrofinishing/Shaping of Refractory Materials (like Nb, Ta, and Mo) in HF-Free Low Viscosity Water Based Electrolytes
- Presentation on Electrofinishing/Shaping of Refractory Materials (like Nb, Ta, and Mo) in HF-Free Low Viscosity Water Based Electrolytes
- Electropolishing of Passive Materials in HF – Free Low Viscosity Aqueous Electrolytes
Stainless Steel Deburring/Radiusing
- Scalable water/salt based electrochemical method to surface finish a wide range of stainless steel components
U.S. Patents:
Zhou, C., Taylor, E.J., Sun, J. J., Gebhart, L.E., and Renz, R.P., “Electrochemical machining using modulated reverse electric fields.“
Publications & Awards:
Machining and Shaping of Metals
- Built tools to machine groove and passages in steels and Ta materials
- Developed hole drilling and channel cutting conditions for salt water-based electrolytes
U.S. Patents:
Zhou, C., Taylor, E.J., Sun, J. J.,Gebhart, L.E., and Renz, R.P., “Electrochemical machining using modulated reverse electric fields.“
Through Mask Etching
- Cutting and shaping by electrochemical machining through a plastic mask
- Localized shape/depth control
Publications & Awards:
Reel to Reel ElectroPolishing
- Continuous reel-to-reel operation to electropolish wire
Publications & Awards:
U.S. Patent Application:
M. Inman, E.J. Taylor, A. Lozano-Morales, H.Garich, T. Hall “Electrochemical System and Method for Machining Strongly Passivating Metals.”
ElectroFinishing Of Additively Manufactured Components
- Processing conditions developed to minimize material removal while achieving the target final finish
- Processing conditions tuned based on the initial and targeted surface roughness
- Tool is custom designed based on the shape of the part
Publications & Awards:
U.S. Patents:
Timothy D. Hall, Holly Garich, Heather McCrabb, E. Jennings Taylor. “Sequenced Pulse Reverse Waveform Surface Finishing of Additively Manufactured Parts.”
Timothy D. Hall, Holly Garich, Heather McCrabb, E. Jennings Taylor. “Sequenced Pulse Reverse Waveform Surface Finishing of Additively Manufactured Parts.”
