Parameters Optimization for Electropolishing Titanium by Using Taguchi-Based Pareto ANOVA

Material removal rate in electropolishing is often overlooked because this process generally addressed for surface finish; however, it is paramount on metallic sheet machining possessed with intricate geometry. Electropolishing removes metallic material from the surface of a workpiece based on anodic dissolution process. The material removal rate depends on the current density, electrolyte, the strength of the magnetic field, polishing time and temperature. In this study, three factors of applied voltage, electrolyte composition and magnetic field were evaluated using Taguchi approach to improve the material removal rate in the electropolishing of a pure titanium (99.5%) workpiece. The experiments were undertaken as per Taguchi L-9 (3(3)) orthogonal array, and further analyzed using Pareto ANOVA to determine the most significant parameter. It was found that the optimum parametric combination to maximize the material removal rate were, applied voltage of 15 V, ethanol concentration of 20 vol.% and magnetic field of 0.51 T. The experimental results show that the responses in electropolishing process can be improved through this approach.