INFLUENCE OF THE BRUSHING PROCESS ON THE ROUGHNESS OF INCLINED SURFACES OF PIECES MANUFACTURED IN X40CrMoV5

The purpose of the burnishing process is to achieve a good surface finish, improve mechanical properties and increase the useful life of parts with different geometries. This paper analyzes the effect of this process on the surface topology of parts made of X40CrMoV5 steel tempered to 40-42 HRC, used for the manufacture of molds. The starting surfaces are prepared by applying a standard milling process for their subsequent ball-burnishing process. This is done with a new burnishing tool designed for this purpose. Subsequently, the surface roughness values are evaluated, depending on the feed and the force, to obtain the best parameters to apply the burnishing. These roughness values will be measured parallel and perpendicular to the burnishing direction. It starts from a previous experience to take the best values found to decide the force and feed values to use. Each condition is tested 3 times to validate the repeatability of the obtained results. Burnishing has been demonstrating to improve the surface properties of the material, and a technological recommendation resulting on the best parameters to apply this process on this type of surface.