I have a stainless steel (316) 2B finish strip. I tried buffing the material for a shiny surface but it takes lot of time to finish my production. So, I want to know if there is any chemical available or any more simple process which I can do in-house to get a shiny surface on SS316 material?
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The most economic thing to do is to use raw material that already has the finish you want. Stainless is most commonly available in a 'Brushed' #4 finish, or a 'mirror' #8 finish, or a number of bead blasted options, although there are a number of other choices like swirl patterns. These will be readily available in both 304 and 316, less common for the more exotic alloys. Special considerations are needed for handling, processing and cutting these materials. Usually they come with a protective film on the finished side, but it's still possible to damage the finish. Care should be taken not to roll the material across a table with grinder grit on it, for example. When waterjet cutting, you'll typically get better results cutting the material 'upside down' with the jet entering the unfinished side and exiting the finished side.
If you must finish it yourself, it is indeed a time consuming process. I'm not aware of any chemical equivalent, but getting your process optimized is important. If you just start by buffing, progress will be very slow. The process should start by obtaining a flat surface (through machining or scraping) then sanding or grinding with progressively finer grits then finally cut and color buffing. As long as your parts are flat and relatively large, there is a machine known by its brand name "Timesaver" which will do most or all of these steps, but they are big and expensive. Depending on your location, you may be able to find someone who has one and get them to run your part through.
