Improving Surface Finish of Laser Additively Manufactured Curvilinear Surfaces Via Electropolishing and Electroless Coating

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Abstract Laser-directed energy deposition (LDED) is a very useful additive manufacturing technique for repairing and manufacturing complex-shaped parts compared to traditional manufacturing techniques. However, the inadequate surface quality of the LDED fabricated components limits their direct utilization in different sectors. In addition, improving the surface finish of the curvilinear surfaces (useful for cooling channels and fuel nozzles) is also challenging. Hence, the current study focuses on surface modification of LDED fabricated SS 316L hollow cylindrical samples by combining electropolishing and electroless coating. We have performed electropolishing (two different currents, 8 A and 15 A) on the as-deposited (AD) sample with and without the application of the grinding process. The electropolishing reduced the roughness of the AD sample from 3.2 µm to 0.85 µm and 0.74 µm for 8 A and 15 A, respectively. The reduction in roughness was more at a higher current value due to the rapid anodic dissolution of the surface peaks. A further reduction in roughness was observed when grinding was performed before electropolishing. However, grinding resulted in higher material removal from the deposited surfaces and reduction in roughness was also minimal. Hence, only the electropolishing sample was selected for the next step, in which Ni-P electroless coating was performed on the surface to form a protective layer. After electroless coating, the coefficient of friction and wear-rate were reduced by 9.5% and 25.6% compared to the AD sample. Delamination and severe plastic deformation were the major wear mechanisms for the AD sample, whereas abrasion was dominant for the coated sample. The current work proposes a combined surface modification approach of electropolishing and electroless coating for the LDED processed components with curvilinear surfaces.