Optimum Machining Conditions for Mirror Polishing of Aluminum Alloy Using a Robot

Using robots in precision machining fields, such as grinding and polishing, is becoming more prominent in recent years. This paper presents original research results of aluminum alloy surface polishing using a rubber polishing disk in a robotic polishing system. A rotary hand-polishing system is held by the actuator of a six-axis articulated robot to perform the polishing task. The workpiece is an aluminum alloy block fixed on a piezo-electric type dynamometer. For finding the optimal tool angle to obtain the best polished surface, some polishing experiments were carried out using various tool angles. The effects of the number of polishing strokes on the surface roughness and depth of machining have been also estimated. Finally, calculated results and experimentally obtained results of a multi-stage polishing were compared. The obtained experimental results are useful for finding the optimum machining conditions for making an autonomous robotic polishing system.