- Physical Sciences
This semi-industrial pilot plant for electrochemical and chemical surface finishing can reduce the surface roughness of metal parts manufactured by additive manufacturing (AM) by up to 60%, including components with relatively complex geometries. The resulting surfaces are clean, highly glossy, and easy to clean.
The facility can also be used to machine or shape specific areas of a component.
The pilot plant comprises:
- Processing tanks with capacities of up to 250 L, equipped with multiple heaters, a cooling coil, mechanical stirring, air agitation, multiple counter-electrode positioning options, a level sensor, a lid, and an extraction hood.
- Rectifiers capable of delivering a wide range of voltage and current settings.
- Surface roughness measurement equipment, currently operating offline, with the acquisition of in-line characterization equipment planned.
- Additional surface characterization equipment for assessing thermography, corrosion, wettability, gloss, mass loss, and changes in component geometry, among other properties.
- Planned acquisition of electrochemical simulation software to rapidly identify initial process parameters based on the requirements, geometry, and material type of the component to be post-processed.
- Planned acquisition of monitoring and control software for the electrochemical pilot plant, enabling connectivity with a Manufacturing Execution System (MES) that will manage the entire component manufacturing facility.
When combined with the other available equipment for post-processing additively manufactured parts (CID.002 and CID.003), this facility forms part of a comprehensive AM post-processing line capable of treating components with a wide range of geometries and requirements, achieving surface roughness reductions of up to 95%.
Equipment
- Electrolytic tanks.
- Offline surface roughness characterization equipment.
- Rectifiers.
- Electrolyte control and regeneration systems.
- Electrochemical simulation software.
- Consulting on scale-up and industrial feasibility studies
- Development and optimization of post-processing operations for additively manufactured parts
- Prototype production
- Process monitoring and control
- Training
CIDETEC
Eskuzaitzeta Industrialdea, Oianguren, 5, 20160 Zubieta - Donostia / San Sebastián, SPAIN
Surfaces and Coatings:
- Functional Materials and Surfaces
- Advanced Materials
Application sectors
- Biorefineries
- Petrochemicals
Industrial plan
- HAZI · Renewable Fuels
