Using specially designed high-stiffness burnishing tool to achieve high-quality surface finish

This paper is focused on the process of ball burnishing. The influence of tool stiffness on surface roughness parameters was considered theoretically, while experimental investigation was conducted to establish the influence of initial surface roughness (previous machining) on the effects of ball burnishing as the finishing process. Experimental investigations were conducted over a wide interval of most influential process parameters (burnishing forces, burnishing feed, and number of burnishing passes). The material used in the experiments was aluminum alloy EN AW-6082 (AlMgSi1) T651. Burnishing was performed using a specially designed tool of high stiffness. Statistical analysis of experimental data revealed strong correlation between roughness, R _a, and burnishing force, burnishing feed, and number of passes for the three surfaces, each with different roughness parameters. Particular combinations of process parameters yielded very low surface roughness, R _a, equivalent to polishing. It is worth noting that high surface quality can be achieved with relatively small burnishing forces, which differs from the investigations published so far. Contrary to conventional approaches, which are based on elastic tool systems, the authors propose the burnishing process to be conducted with high-stiffness tools. Further investigation shall be focused on optimization of burnishing process parameters in order to achieve surface finish equivalent to high polish.