Novel electro-polishing technology for additive manufactured titanium parts

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Passive Action (PA), Montreal, QC, is specialized in electropolishing of metal work-pieces with main expertise in stainless steel parts. PA currently uses well-established techniques to polish the surface of stainless steel parts, and to remove sharp edges and deburr to satisfy the needs of the market. Since 2014 the company wants to target new markets, in particular the aerospace and medical markets. Recently, in both of these markets, additive manufacturing (AM) was introduced world-wide, enabling precise fabrication of complex three dimensional structures, resulting in game-changing manufacturing concepts. Although AM technology is revolutionizing the aerospace and biomedical device industries, obtaining good surface quality and geometrical accuracy still represents a major challenge. Due to its superior properties, titanium alloys are mostly used in these applications for AM. So far PA cannot fulfill the surface polish and deburring demand for titanium parts. The proposed research project aims to explore an alternative electropolishing process, where titanium can be polished, such that 1) surface roughness can be reduced and 2) edges can be deburred. This will drastically enhance the company's chances to enter their new targeted markets and fulfill the demanded deburring requirements for titanium parts. This alternative, new electropolishing technology makes use of non-hazardous electrolytes and pulse technology to decrease the surface roughness and deburr the edges of the desired titanium workpieces. By helping to address current AM issues on fabricated titanium parts such as reducing surface roughness and at the same time deburring issues for conventional manufacturing technologies, this project will give this Canadian company (PA) a strong market position internationally. Since PA is based in Montreal, expanding their capabilities in highly promising new areas may lead to the creation of new jobs, and thereby provide a benefit to Canada overall.