Roughness Evolution of Previously Milled Samples Along a Polishing Test

In the present work results about roughness evolution along a polishing operation with corundum disks of size Norton 400 are presented. Hardened steel and hardened stainless steel samples were previously subjected to ball-end milling or side milling with cylindrical tool at different cutting conditions. Roughness height parameters Ra and Rt, as well as parameters related to the Abbott-Firestone curve such as Rk, Rpk, and Rvk, and shape parameters such as Rsk and Rku were studied. It is usually considered that a polishing operation is complete when Ra does not decrease significantly with more polishing time. In the present paper, an alternative method for determining the end of a polishing test is presented. Roughness is measured both in the longitudinal and in the transversal direction with respect to cutting marks, and it is assumed that the polishing operation is finished when longitudinal values equal transversal values, provided that from that moment on roughness values do not decrease significantly. Moreover, it is recommended to measure parameter Rvk in addition to or even instead of Ra, in order to obtain information about the presence of valleys from the previous milling operation.