A Novel Force Control Strategy for Improved Surface Integrity in Low Plasticity Burnishing

Abstract

Ball burnishing is a cold work process where a hard ceramic or diamond ball rolls on a metal surface and flattens the roughness peaks under high local pressure. The small deformation created on the surface imposes compressive residual stresses and raises hardness in a shallow sub-surface layer, leading to improved fatigue, corrosion, and foreign object damage performances. Trial-and-error type experimental work to determine the optimum process parameters for a cold-forming process like ball burnishing for acceptable performance is costly. Therefore, the article aims to investigate the effects of various force control strategies in the double-sided low plasticity burnishing (LPB) process to find the effects on deformation and residual stresses on thin Ti6Al4V flat sheets. A 3D static-implicit finite element model was developed with an elastic-rigid plastic flow curve. Simulations were conducted to predict residual stresses and deformationі on the surface. As a result, it was proven that ball burnishing can produce a deterministically controlled surface. An increased vertical force produced higher deformation normal to the surface and, therefore, a deeper pool. As the ball proceeded further, a plowing effect developed such that when a 3.5–4.8 mm deep pool was formed (at a vertical force of 150 N), a peak of 2.8 mm was produced at the front end. Overall, the deformation on the surface and the residual stresses were directly interrelated. Parallel to the deformation on the surface, residual stresses on and beneath the surface also showed some variation. Nevertheless, the predicted residual stress variations were not big. They did not switch to the tensile mode in the burnished zone. Therefore, the whole sheet surface should be burnished to obtain all the compressive residual stresses.