Data on three modes of plasma electrolytic polishing of high-alloy austenitic steel

The data shared in this data set supports the article "Three modes of plasma electrolytic polishing of high-alloy austenitic steel". By analysing the provided photographs of the specimens before and after applying different surface treatment technologies, as well as the microscope data taken in order to evaluate the surface roughness evolution, one can conclude which described surface treatment method is the most efficient one. The full description of the used surface treatment technologies and conditions to which each specimen was subjected are presented in the above mentioned article.
The authors concluded that the particle blasting (PB) technology is a necessary intermittent step to reduce the initial surface roughness of additively manufactured specimens. All specimens analysed in this study were produced using the powder bed fusion electron beam (PBF-EB/M) technology. All specimens were particle blasted at the same conditions. After the PB step, the specimens were grouped and plasma electrolytic polished using three different modes of the process for 30 min, as it is explained in the main article "Three modes of plasma electrolytic polishing of high-alloy austenitic steel".
The obtained data supports the hypothesis that the standing wave mode of the plasma electrolytic polishing (PEP) is the most efficient method as it allows fastest material removal compared to the bath-PEP technologies. It also enables a local surface treatment avoiding polishing of the whole surface. Nevertheless, the standing-wave-PEP method is the most demanding on precision and accuracy in controlling the process as well as positioning of a specimen.
Finally, the data also supports the hypothesis that the optimisation of the PBF-EB/M parameters is a must so that the surface integrity of as-built parts would be increased and no excessive efforts on the surface post-processing would be needed.