Residual Stress, Surface Roughness and Microstructure on Specimen Surface Subjected to Gyrofinishing Process with Various Abrasive Media

Abstract

Gyrofinishing is a mass-finishing process used for large and/or complex workpieces. In this process, abrasive media filled in a container are accelerated by rotating the container, impacting the workpiece fixed in it and smoothing the workpiece surface. In this study, the effects of the materials and sizes of the abrasive media on the surface roughness, microstructure, and residual stress on the specimen surface developed by gyrofinishing were revealed. The surface of the gyrofinished specimen was smooth. However, the specimen surface when using the HS medium, consisting of a mixture of ceramic and small abrasive grains, was slightly rougher compared to that finished using the PS medium, consisting of ceramic. An ultra-fine grained structure was formed at the surface after gyrofinishing, regardless of medium. A flow of the microstructure was observed in the specimens gyrofinished with the HS media, indicating that shear stress occurred during gyrofinishing. All the gyrofinished specimens exhibited a significant compressive residual stress near the surface. The residual-stress profile along the depth direction differed depending on the material and size of the media. The small media shallowed the depth of the maximum compressive residual stress (d_max), whereas the medium size hardly affected the maximum compressive residual stress (σ_max). The measured d_max was significantly smaller than the d_max value estimated based on the Hertz contact theory, which is likely due to the shear stress generated by the rotation or sliding of the media on the specimen surface during gyrofinishing. The specimens gyrofinished using the HS series had a higher σ_max than those gyrofinised using the PS series. The rough surface of the HS medium is expected to introduce a high compressive residual stress through the burnishing effect. It can be concluded that gyrofinishing provides the specimen surface with a smooth, ultra-fine grained structure and significant compressive residual stress.

Fig. 8 Residual-stress profile from the surface to inside the specimen gyrofinished with PS-4, PS-10, HS-4, and HS-10. The residual stress in the specimen surface before gyrofinishing is also shown.