The electrolytic polishing study of the stainless steel foil (SUS 304)

Flexible flat panel display (FPD) is considered to be one of the most optimal and flourishing display technologies in the 21st century, and the processing and exploitation of flexible substrate is one of the key techniques of flexible display. Until now there have been three choices of flexible substrate materials: (1) ultra-thin glass; (2) polymer materials; (3) metal foils. The flexible substrates of electroluminescence display must endure high-temperature annealing from 400°C to 700°C for doping activation, and have good flexibility and can obstruct oxygen and water penetration. Based on above considerations, to adopt the stainless steel foil for the FPD is the most suitable. In this paper, the electrolytic polishing process of stainless steel foil is investigated, and the results of the experiment show that the polishing time, current density, distance of cathode and anode panel, and other technical parameters affect the electrolytic polishing process, and then induce the best technical parameters. The surface roughness of stainless steel sheet decreases from 0.12μm to 0.044μm, but the dongas appear after the steel surface being polished. The dongas patterns are investigated, and this provides a more scientific basis for the experiments in the future.