Impact of Ball burnishing process parameters on surface Integrity of an Aluminium 2024 Alloy

Burnishing is cold working process which leads to a surface level plastic deformation and helps to enhance important properties like surface roughness and hardness by inducing compressive residual stresses in the material up to some certain depth. The movement of the tool along the surface of the test specimen presses down the surface peaks resulting in a very smooth surface finish. The use of ball as a deforming element gives high specific pressure leading to a better surface finish when compared with other forms of burnishing. In the present work, process of burnishing is carried out on an Aluminium 2024 alloy. The aluminium 2024 alloy is divided into 6 different regions. These regions are then subjected to burnishing by varying process parameters like feed rate and number of passes. Later surface roughness and hardness tests were performed to assess its impact on the specimen before and after the burnishing process. The outcomes show significant improvement in hardness values and reduction in surface roughness. (paper)