Is there any mechanical equivalent to electropolishing?
A. Yes but only one. A process known as lapping is used to prepare metallurgical samples in laboratories to observe the microstructure . This process requires multiple steps where very fine diamond dust impregnated paste is applied until the grain structure of metal can be seen under magnification without any visible scratches or distortion from cold working from lessor mechanical polishing practices. In many cases even these diamond polished samples will be exposed to electropolishing as a final finish. Therefore, there is no practical alternative to electropolishing on large surface areas in real world applications.
