Polishing is a finishing process used to improve surface integrity by reducing surface roughness and residual
stress caused by other machining processes. The recently developed electron beam polishing method
was used in this study to improve surface quality. In this process, an electron beam with a maximum
diameter of 60 mm was applied for a few microseconds to melt and evaporate a metal surface. Al6061
and SUS304 metal plates were prepared with different geometric patterns and subjected to electron
beam polishing. The surface roughness of the patterned SUS304 metal plate was significantly improved.
However, the surface roughness of the patterned Al6061 metal plate became worse. Although the surface
hardness decreased by approximately 10% on the re-solidified layers on both types of plates, the contact
angle increased due to changes in surface morphology. The microstructure variation after the electron
beam irradiation was also examined and compared with the thickness prediction of the re-solidified layer
for Al6061 and SUS304 metal plates.