Finite element analysis of ball burnishing: evolution of residual stresses and surface profile in Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy

Abstract

In the present study, the effect of feed on the residual stress distribution and surface profile generated during the ball burnishing of titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-7Nb) was investigated using finite element simulation. The elastic-plastic material model with isotropic hardening was used for performing the simulations. The created finite element model containing a rigid ball and deformable specimen was optimized and validated using experimental data. It was observed that the effect of burnishing feed is significant on the surface profile compared to residual stresses. The maximum residual stress obtained during the simulation of the process was achieved for the burnishing feed of 0.2 mm. This confirmed the variation of residual stress when the burnishing feed is varied. Whereas the surface roughness was the least for the 0.05 mm burnishing feed which was due to uniform deformation of the surface during the process.