Wear Behavior and Surface Quality Analysis of AISI 1040 Steel after Burnishing Process

Burnishing is a well-known, low-cost yet effective super finishing method that involves the plastic deformation of the surface layer, resulting in cold working, which improves mechanical characteristics and increases component operating life. Surface quality is primarily related to component service qualities such as wear resistance, corrosion resistance, and fatigue life. This leads to the investigation of ball burnishing as a supportive technique to improve component durability. The purpose of this study is to explore and optimize the ball burnishing process using the Taguchi approach in order to determine the most suitable combination of process parameters to reduce the specific wear rate and coefficient of friction of AISI 1040 steel components. Post-burnishing, hardness improved from 195 to 287 Hv and roughness of surface reduced from 0.447 to 0.101 μm. The optimization findings revealed that 52.35% improvement in wear resistance, whereas coefficient of friction was reduced by 61.53% as compared to the turned surface. The results confirm that ball-burnishing technique enhanced the functional properties of AISI 1040 steel.