A predictive approach to investigating effects of ultrasonic-assisted burnishing process on surface performances of shaft targets

The ultrasonic-assisted burnishing process (UABP) is an effective surface finishing technology that obtains compressive residual stress and surface work hardening and decreases surface roughness. A three-dimensional explicit nonlinear finite element model (FEM) of the UABP on a shaft specimen was established and calibrated in this paper. A comparison of finite element (FE) simulation results with experimental data showed good agreement in terms of the predicted residual stress in both tangential and axial directions. The established FEM explores the influence of treatment parameters, such as ball diameters, static forces, spindle speeds, ultrasonic frequencies, vibration amplitudes, and friction coefficients, on the resultant profile of residual stress and equivalent plastic deformation. This dynamic explicit FE method is an effective approach to investigate the UABP, to relate the processing parameters with surface integrity, including the depth of residual stress and work hardening of objective surfaces, and to guide the design of the UABP parameters.