Effect of pre-treatment polishing on fabrication of anodic aluminum oxide using commercial aluminum alloy

Abstract

Aluminum anodizing is a process in which metal is oxidized with an electrochemical method to make a metallic oxide. Because it can be used to manufacture an Anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) with dozens to hundreds of nanoscale pores that are vertically and uniformly arranged, it is widely applied in a variety of fields. In particular, most of the pre-treatment methods in the anodic oxidation processes using a high-purity aluminum adopt surface treatment through electrolyte polishing. In this study, complex polishing was performed using an abrasive film and Magnetorheological (MR) fluid for a commercial aluminum alloy to produce a uniform porous oxidized aluminum. The surface roughness and surface integrity were analyzed after each process to investigate the production behavior of AAO in relation to the pre-treatment of the surface. In addition, a study was conducted on the nano-pore production by the anodizing process in accordance with the pre-treatment polishing, in terms of the work-hardening and residual stress. Thus, in the anodic oxidation process, it was possible to generate uniform nano-pores when surface integrity including surface roughness and residual stress distribution of the aluminum alloys are excellent. Test results showed that the polishing process using the MR fluid did not generate process scratches and pits, but could effectively remove the work-hardening and compressive residual stress, proving that MR fluid polishing method is a suitable pre-treatment process to produce nano-pores in the anodizing process.