Surface flatness and roughness evolution after magnetic assisted ball burnishing of magnetizable and non-magnetizable materials

Abstract

The burnishing process is applied to improve the surface roughness and hardness. The goal of the reported research was to evaluate the machining conditions on magnetisable and non-magnetisable materials by the novel permanent magnetic assisted ball burnishing (MABB) tool. The MABB tool was designed to reduce the surface roughness but this process has further effects on the surface C45 steel, X6CrNiTi1811 austenite steel, AA7075 aluminium alloy and PA6 polymer materials were burnished in the experiments. Surface quality is a complex feature that refers to the micro-geometrical characteristics of the machined surface. It includes roughness and waviness and gives a realistic picture about the top layer of the surface, while micro hardness and grains structure are especially important on sub-surface level. Results according to these analysed aspects mirrored that all of the tested materials can be burnished by the novel MABB tool, however, the effects from the economical viewpoints are diverse.