Effect of Workpiece Orientation, Lubrication and Media Geometry on the Effectiveness of Vibratory Finishing of Al6061

Abstract

Vibratory Finishing is a commonly used process for deburring and polishing. The process effectiveness is difficult to quantify due to a nexus of variables relating to workpiece, media, compound and machine. In this paper, effect of orientation of rectangular Al6061 workpieces is considered with respect to the motion of ceramic media using water as lubricant. It is found that parallel orientation of workpiece to media motion and higher lubrication level lead to higher degree of sliding, thereby leading to smoother finish. Experiments with different ceramic media showed smoother finish with the geometry more susceptible to rounding. The aforesaid findings can be employed in applications requiring superpolished surfaces.