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Burnishing is a Severe Plastic Deformation process having the potential to replace expensive finishing post processes. It is considered a super finishing process due to its results in terms of drastic roughness reduction. Also, additional advantages include the surface integrity improvement functionalized to the specific application. Even though burnishing is widely applied for surface improvement of conventional materials, knowledge about its effect on additively manufactured metals is still limited. This paper aims to fill this gap presenting experiments on roller burnishing on additively manufactured stainless steel in order to improve its tribological performance. The experimental campaign was carried out to find suitable process parameters able to drastically improve the tribological behavior of the final product. In particular, the influence of the burnishing forces on the whole surface quality has been addressed. The overall results demonstrate that the selected burnishing configuration is able to successfully modify the surface characteristics of the steel, making it appropriate for critical applications. Furthermore, the experimental findings allow to conclude that burnishing process can replace a series of post processes needed after additive manufacturing, drastically reducing the time and costs associated to the manufacturing process and meeting Industry 4.0 requirements.

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a flexible solution to include additive manufacturing into a process chain complying with Industry 4.0 pillars, overcoming major drawbacks in terms of reliability and experimental effort.Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on the combination of real experimental activities and simulated ones.Findings: The main findings of this work consist of validation of the proposed process chain, which proves to be effective in terms of process flexibility (additive manufacturing, burnishing and process simulation acting synergistically), cost and time reduction and final output quality, encouraging customer involvement towards customization.Originality/value: This paper contributes to current research on the application of burnishing process, an easy way to implement and environmental friendly post-processing method to improve the performance of AM products, by providing a unique perspective integrating a reliable simulation model. Other researchers can use these outcomes towards manufacturing of the future.