The influence of surface enhancement by low plasticity burnishing on the surface integrity of steels

A new field 'engineered surfaces' would be a more effective and economic route to successful manufacture. Low plasticity burnishing (LPB) is a method of surface enhancement, which raises the burnishing to next level of sophistication and that can provide deep, thermally stable surface compression for improved surface integrity characteristics. Some of the surface characteristics which could be improved from LPB technology arc: surface finish, surface microhardness, low- and high-cycle fatigue strength, corrosion resistance and wear resistance. However, in the current research work, full factorial, orthogonal design of experiments were conducted on AISI 1045 and AISI 316L work materials, using a newly designed LPB tool to evaluate the effect of LPB parameters on the surface integrity. The assessment of the surface integrity aspects on work materials was done by evaluating the interaction effects of parameters. Mathematical expressions were developed for response variables. Subsurface microhardness studies were also done to assess the depth of compression.