Effect of slide burnishing method on the surface integrity of AISI 316Ti chromium–nickel steel

Chromium–nickel steels are widely used in various fields of the engineering practice because of their increased corrosion resistance. One of the most used chromium–nickel steel is AISI 316Ti. It is known from the engineering practice that processing this steel by cutting creates difficulties and problems. However, there is no information regarding the effectiveness of the slide burnishing (SB) method in terms of quality of the processed surface of this chromium–nickel steel. A comprehensive experimental and FEM study of the surface integrity of slide burnished specimens made of AISI 316Ti austenitic stainless steel has been carried out. The effect of the SB parameters on the obtained roughness, microhardness, residual stress, fatigue strength (life) and wear resistance has been studied. A fully coupled thermal-stress FEM analysis has been conducted to be appreciated the effect of the generated temperature in SB process on the residual stress formation. The SB of AISI 316Ti steel achieves: roughness of R a = 0.055 μm; micro-hardness increased by more than 32%; significant wear resistance; introduced residual stress with a maximum absolute value, which significantly exceeds the yield limit of the bulk material; increased fatigue strength by 38.9%; fatigue life increasing more than 385 times. The obtained experimental outcomes for the main characteristics of the surface integrity prove that SB can be successfully applied as a mixed burnishing for finishing symmetrical rotational components made of chromium–nickel steels.