Investigations on surface integrity of AISI 1045 using LPB tool

Low plasticity burnishing (LPB) is relatively a new method of surface enhancement, which raises the burnishing to the next level of sophistication. LPB can provide deep stable surface compression for improved surface integrity characteristics. The present study focuses on the surface roughness, microhardness, surface integrity and fatigue life aspects of AISI 1045 work material, using full factorial design of experiments. The assessment of the surface integrity aspects on work material was done, in terms of evaluating the interaction effects of parameters, identifying the predominant factor amongst the selected parameters, their order of significance and setting the levels of the factors for minimizing surface roughness and/or maximizing surface hardness and fatigue life. Mathematical expressions were developed for surface characteristics of importance as response variables. Subsurface microhardness studies were also done to assess the depth of compression, altered material zone and correlate fatigue life with surface roughness and surface hardness. The process can be applied to critical components effectively, as the LPB process today has significant process cycle time advantages, and lower capital cost. Additional cost reduction will be realized by introducing proven high speed machining concepts into the LPB process.