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Sporadic Arcing in Electropolish

November 15, 2012

Q. Hi Folks,

I work for a medical device company manufacturing cobalt alloy parts (approx. 18 mm in length, 2 mm OD). We have an issue on one of our six electropolish hoods where we get sporadic arcing. The arcing is so bad it fractures the part. We could EP again for 3 months before we see the issue again and only one part will be affected. We polish 10 parts at a time. We have 6 occurrences of these in the last year all specific to one EP hood. Cathodes and anodes have all been replaced several times in this period. Am at wits end what cause may be.

$fractured part due to electropolish arcing$

Paul Kelly
- Galway, Ireland

November 20, 2012

A. I have been doing EP just in stainless steel and in my case that arcing occurs when there is bad contact, I have no knowledge on cobalt alloys buy maybe it gives a clue to you or maybe not.

Daniel Hernandez Guerra
- Bucaramanga Santander Colombia

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