SURFACE TOPOGRAPHY IMPROVEMENT OF 18CRNIMO7-6 STEEL USING THE TAGUCHI TECHNIQUE

The ball burnishing process provides a fast, cost-effective, and straightforward method to enhance the physical-mechanical properties and surface integrity of industrially manufactured parts. In this study, ball burnishing was applied to improve the surface topography of 18CrNiMo7-6 steel, with milling used as a pre-burnishing treatment. A Taguchi L9 orthogonal array was employed to conduct hydrostatic ball burnishing investigations and optimal values of the process parameters have been identified. The positive effect of the burnishing process on a number of surface topography parameters was also demonstrated.