Burnishing is a Severe Plastic Deformation process having the potential to replace expensive finishing post processes. It is considered a super finishing process due to its results in terms of drastic roughness reduction. Also, additional advantages include the surface integrity improvement functionalized to the specific application. Even though burnishing is widely applied for surface improvement of conventional materials, knowledge about its effect on additively manufactured metals is still limited. This paper aims to fill this gap presenting experiments on roller burnishing on additively manufactured stainless steel in order to improve its tribological performance. The experimental campaign was carried out to find suitable process parameters able to drastically improve the tribological behavior of the final product. In particular, the influence of the burnishing forces on the whole surface quality has been addressed. The overall results demonstrate that the selected burnishing configuration is able to successfully modify the surface characteristics of the steel, making it appropriate for critical applications. Furthermore, the experimental findings allow to conclude that burnishing process can replace a series of post processes needed after additive manufacturing, drastically reducing the time and costs associated to the manufacturing process and meeting Industry 4.0 requirements.
Predictive Models of Double-Vibropolishing in Bowl System Using Artificial Intelligence Methods
