Investigation of roller burnishing process on aluminium 63400 material

Abstract

Burnishing, a plastic deformation process, is becoming more popular as a super finishing process. The selection of the burnishing parameters to reduce the surface roughness and to increase the surface hardness is especially crucial because of the non-linear characteristic of the burnishing parameter. This paper deals with the results of an experimental program to study the influence of different burnishing conditions on both surface roughness and hardness: namely, burnishing force, feed, step-over and number of passes. Mathematical models are presented for predicting the surface roughness and hardness and of aluminium 63400 caused by roller burnishing. The response surface methodology is used to optimise the burnishing parameters. The optimum surface roughness and its surface hardness are 0.1468 μm and 43.0147 HRC, respectively. The optimum burnishing parameters are: burnishing force 1200 N; feed 200 mm/min; step over 3 mm; and number of pass 2. The impacts ofburnishing parameters on surface characteristics are investigated. Scanning electron microscopy examinations of the burnishing process are also investigated.