Effects of working parameters on surface finish in ball-burnishing of hardened steels

Burnishing is a chipless finishing method, which employs a rolling tool, pressed against the workpiece, in order to achieve plastic deformation of the surface layer. Recent developments made possible burnishing of heat-treated steel components up to 65 HRC. Features of burnishing include a good roughness (comparable to grinding), as well as improvement of mechanical characteristics of the surface (fatigue strength, corrosion resistance, and bearing ratio), due to implementation of compressive stresses into the surface layer. This paper will present influences of certain burnishing parameters upon roughness, for a hardened steel component (64 HRC).