Roller buffing: what is it?

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Roller burnishing is a metal finishing process that involves physically moving away surface irregularities rather than cutting or grinding. The process involves moving hardened or hardened rollers against the metal surface under pressure, thus causing microscopic imperfections in the metal surface to flatten out for a perfect mirror-like surface. In addition to the fine finish achieved by roller burnishing, a metal part is also work hardened in the process, thus leaving its surface more resistant to wear and corrosion. Even high degrees of accuracy are possible because the roller sets are adjustable. Additional benefits of roller buffing include higher productivity and lower overall costs.

Machined metal parts may appear quite smooth to the naked eye, but generally have surfaces made up of many microscopic peaks and troughs that require removal before parts are released. This can be achieved by abrasive polishing, grinding or sanding a part to achieve the required mirror finish. The part can also be roller burnished, a less aggressive cold working process that not only provides a perfect finish, but also has many other beneficial effects. Roller buffing involves moving sets of hardened, tapered steel rollers across the surface of the part under considerable pressure, causing the metal surface to “drain.” This flattens out the peaks and fills in the depressions in the part surface and leaves a pristine mirror finish.

The roller burnishing process also has the effect of work hardening the surface of the piece during finishing. Work hardening refines the crystalline structure of the metal surface at the atomic level, thereby removing internal pockets and fissures and increasing the surface hardness of the part by between 5 and 10%. This effect is generally effective to depths between 001 and 030 inches (0.25 to 762 mm). This leaves the surface hard, dense and extremely resistant to wear, metal fatigue and corrosion and greatly increases the overall life of the part.

Even burnishing does not give up anything in terms of control of the dimensions of the piece because the rollers are typically characterized by precise and easy to set adjustments. Another benefit of the rolling process is an increase in productivity resulting from its inherent simplicity. Burnishing takes fewer steps to complete; once the equipment is set up, thousands of parts can be produced by inexperienced operators without any adjustments. The capital outlay for roller burnishers is typically lower than for other processes due to the small number of tools involved. Burnishing also exhibits much longer mean tool life than other finishing methods, further enhancing the cost-effective nature of the process.

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