Effects of Abrasive Media on Surface Roughness in Barrel Finishing Process

Barrel finishing is a common technique for surface finishing of industrial parts. Many factors such as working time, abrasive media, initial roughness and machining parameters of rotary barrel affect the final surface roughness of workpieces. Analysing these input parameters in order to obtain the least surface roughness as well as the least working time for barrel finishing of the specific samples, is not possible except by applying Design of Experiments method. Thus, the aim of the present paper is to improve the surface quality of the steel alloy CK45 samples in barrel finishing process, by investigating different combination of three abrasive particles including ceramics, steel balls and aluminium oxide as the abrasive media through design of experiments method. Initial roughness, working time and the combination of abrasive media are the input factors in the designed experiments, while the surface roughness is the output factor. Results show that the best surface roughness and working time have been achieved with the specific combination of steel balls and aluminium oxide particles as the abrasive media.