Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

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Journal of Manufacturing Processes

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How alumina nanoparticles impact surface characteristics of Al7175 in T

roller burnishing process
⁎
S. Khalilpourazary , J. Salehi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Urmia University of Technology, Urmia, Iran

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This research aims to investigate the effect of using alumina nanoparticles on the final surface characteristics of
Roller burnishing the cylindrical specimens of Al 7175 manufactured through roller burnishing process. For this purpose, work-
Alumina nanoparticles pieces were divided into two groups of seven samples, and burnishing process was carried out in the lathe
Surface roughness machine; The first time it was in dry mode and in the second it was performed by using nanofluid containing
Microhardness
ethanol alcohol and alumina nanoparticles. In order to facilitate comparison of the results, the input parameters
Coating
including the diameter of the workpiece, speed, feed rate, and burnishing tool were selected the same for both of
the groups. Besides, dry and nanofluid burnishing, the number of passes and the penetration depth were taken
into account as variable parameters of this study. Then, the samples were studied in order to determine the
surface roughness and microhardness values. The results disclosed that the alumina nanofluid significantly
decreased/increased the surface roughness/microhardness comparing to dry burnishing. In addition, the results
showed that nanofluid improved sub-surface hardness and formed a thin layer of alumina ceramic on the surface
of the aluminum alloy workpiece with the penetration depth of 0.4 mm.

1. Introduction During the burnishing process, the continuous pressure of the

There are various traditional chip removal methods such as
grinding, lapping, and shaving to increase the final surface quality of
workpieces which are manufactured through different metal forming
and machining processes. However, there exists various research to find
new methods to eliminate secondary finishing processes and to manu-
facture workpieces in one single process. This is due to the fact that
obtaining a higher level of surface quality, lower manufacturing costs
and time increases competitiveness in the marketplace. One of the most
commonly used methods is burnishing process which is performed in
forms of roller and ball over a vast domain of metal workpieces.
Burnishing process rectifies the surface quality of the workpiece on a
microscopic scale without any chip formation [1]. This process is a
common finishing method that generally carries out on lathe or milling
machines to enhance surface quality, corrosion property, microhard-
ness, wear resistance, and surface resistant against nucleation and crack
propagation in shafts and holes [1,2]. Hence, achieving a high level of
surface quality after burnishing process is of great importance [3]. In
this process, the pressure of burnishing tool, which is more than the
yield strength limit, deforms surface micro scale peaks and in combi-
nation with machine feed fills the valleys heights on the burnished
length [4].
burnishing tool on the workpiece’s uneven surface causes a plastic de-
formation that subsequently, increases the outer layer hardness in
burnished materials [4]. It has been shown that in the burnishing
process, the hardness of the workpiece has a direct relationship with the
force applied to the workpiece and the number of passes during the
process [5].
In many cases, this process has been performed without any lu-
bricants. Many types of research have been investigated the different
parameters in the burnishing process, for instance, type of burnishing
process, tool geometry design, number of passes, Burnishing speed,
depth of burnishing and burnishing strategy e.g., dry or wet burnishing
[6–8]. Hassan and Al-Dhifi [9] have carried out research on ball
burnishing in samples made of pure aluminum and brass. According to
the findings, it was proved that the burnishing process by cold working
on metal workpieces increases the proof and ultimate stress values, and
significantly increases the final surface quality of the workpiece. Also,
performing the burnishing process by applying force decreases flaws on
the burnished surfaces and delays nucleation and crack propagation in
the fatigue cycle of the samples. Yu and Wang [10] studied the effect of
ball burnishing by spherical surfaced PCD tool on aluminum alloy in
lathe machine and showed that surface quality improves by burnishing.
Also, they studied the relationships of speed, feed, and penetration

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: s.khalilpour@mee.uut.ac.ir (S. Khalilpourazary), j.salehi1363@mee.uut.ac.ir (J. Salehi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmapro.2019.01.027
Received 4 October 2018; Received in revised form 2 January 2019; Accepted 16 January 2019
1526-6125/ © 2019 The Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Table 1
Chemical composition of Al7175 (Temperature: 25 °C, Moisture: 29%).
Weight (%) Element Weight (%) Element

2.27 Mg 89.2 Al
0.061 Mn 0.0159 Ag
0.0015 Na Max 0.0001 Be
0.0140 Ni 0.0080 B
0.0070 P Max 0.0037 Bi
0.166 Pb 0.0157 Ca
0.0002 Sr 0.0057 Cd
0.105 Si 0.2193 Cr
0.122 Sb 1.975 Cu
0.0309 Sn 0.0025 Ce
0.0310 Ti Max 0.0025 Co
0.0088 V 0.18 Fe
0.0060 Zr 0.0022 Hg
5.49 Zn 0.0081 Ga
Fig. 3. A view of the Al7175 samples burnishing process in lathe machine.
0.0001 Li Max 0.0025 In

material removal rate on Al-Zn-Mg alloy samples. To find the optimum

values, the input parameters were analyzed by Taguchi method. Luo,
et al. [12] studied the parameters of feed, speed, and penetration depth
on burnishing force in lathe machine on Al-alloy LY12 and Brass H62
using the polycrystalline diamond tool. The results revealed that the
input parameters including penetration depth, feed, and speed have
applied the most effect on the burnishing force, respectively. Hama-
dache, et al. [13] investigated roller burnishing and ball burnishing
processes on similar workpieces made of steel Rb40 on lathe machine in
order to study the surface roughness, hardness, and wear resistance.
One of the innovations during the burnishing process is the simulta-
neous use of rolling and sliding benefits on the burnishing region to
improve the surface quality of cylindrical metal workpieces made of
ASTM 2017 and ASTM 1055. Also, the effect of penetration depth, feed,
and speed on this method were compared for both metal samples [14].
Sundararajan and Nagarajan [15] used roller burnishing to increase the
internal surface quality of the holes made in a workpiece of EN8. The
burnishing process was performed on the drilling machine with a
constant feed rate and under varied spindle speeds in the range of
Fig. 1. Dimensions of the initial workpieces in the burnishing process (in mil-
100–2700 rpm. At the end of the process and after controlling the tol-
limeters). erance of manufactured holes, the rate of improvement in the surface
quality of holes was measured and based on that the optimal spindle
speed for burnishing process in drilling machine was selected. Kumar,
Table 2
et al. [16] studied the changes in surface roughness and hardness values
The equivalents of steel AISI 52100 in different standards.
of steel C40E during the burnishing process. In this study, the para-
British, BS Japan, JIS German, DIN USA, ASTM Standard meters of speed, feed, penetration depth and number of passes were
selected as the input parameters of the burnishing process. The ex-
535A99/EN31 SUJ2 100Cr6/1.3505 52100 Steel name
periments were designed by Taguchi method and the effect of each
input parameter on surface roughness and final hardness was de-
termined by Analysis of variance (ANOVA) method. Przybylski [17]
performed burnishing along with machining process on a lathe machine
simultaneously. He showed that merging these two processes not only
can reduce manufacturing time but also can eliminate secondary fin-
ishing processes such as grinding. Shirsat, et al. [18] studied the effects
of the input parameters including force, speed, feed, the diameter of the
workpiece and the ball on final finish surface in burnishing process of
the brass material. In this study, four different types of oil were used:
SAE 20, 30, 40, and SAE 50. The study showed that the force that was
applied during the burnishing process had the biggest effect on finish
surface compared to other input parameters, and the best finish surface
was attained by using oil SAE 30. Yuan, et al. [19] presented an in-
novative method to determine the optimal values for the parameters of
burnishing including speed, feed, and penetration depth in roller
Fig. 2. Dimensions of the burnishing tool (in millimeters). burnishing process for a workpiece made of TA2. The output para-
meters of the model included surface roughness and microhardness on
depth with the final surface quality in ball burnishing. Ebeid and Ei- the surface of the manufactured workpiece. Many other types of re-
Taweel [11] used the combination of roller burnishing and electro- search have been performed in this category [20,21]. Revankar, et al.
chemical turning processes to decrease surface roughness and increase [22] used the input parameters of speed, feed, number of passes, and

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Fig. 4. Seven burnished workpieces with different depth of burnishing without alumina nanoparticles (speed 180 (rpm), Feed rate 0.11 (mm/rev)).

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Table 3 to study the surface roughness and hardness on a milling machine.

Characteristics of the γ−Al2O3 nanopowder. According to the findings, it was proved that continuous burnishing
Parameter Value process decreases the surface roughness values with limited feed values.
Some researchers have been performed that the burnishing process
Purity 99% increases fatigue life and wear resistance of the metallic samples
Color White
[25,26]. Rodríguez et al. [26] investigated the effect of deep ball
Particle Average Size 50 nm
Morphology Quasi-spherical
burnishing process by the spherical silicon nitride ceramic tool on
Density 3720Kg/m3 AISI1045 steel in a lathe machine. Also, the parameters of speed,
Specific Heat 880 J/Kg.∘K burnishing pressure and feed per revolution were selected as the input
Poisson’s Ratio 0.21 parameters of the ball burnishing process. The results confirmed that
Elastic Modulus 300 GPa optimum values of surface roughness, hardness and product time de-
Thermal Conductivity 25W/m.∘K pend directly on the input parameters during the burnishing process.
In this study, the effect of using alumina nanoparticles on surface
roughness, microhardness, sub-surface hardness values during roller
burnishing was investigated for the first time. To do so, dry burnishing
process was applied on 7 samples of Al 7175, and for other 7 samples
burnishing process was performed using a fluid containing nano-
particles. The input parameters for the samples in both groups were
similar. In order to easily compare the results, the values for speed and
feed and also the burnishing tool were selected the same. Then, the
values for surface roughness for the samples in both groups were
measured and compared to understand the effect of nanoparticles in the
burnishing process. To measure the values of microhardness, three
samples with the penetration depth of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mm were se-
lected from each group and the values for both dry burnishing and
burnishing with nanofluid were analyzed.

2. Materials and methods

In this research, the material used in the experiments is Al 7175.

Fig. 5. SEM image of alumina nanoparticles used in burnishing process.
force during ball burnishing process of Ti–6Al–4 V to find optimal va-
lues of wear resistance using Taguchi method. It was shown that the
coefficient of friction rises by increasing burnishing force, but it has a
negative correlation with the other input parameters. On the other
hand, the results confirmed that by the specific wear rate started falling
as the input parameters increased.
Cobanoglu and Ozturk [23] studied the surface quality and micro-
hardness values of AISI 1040 carbon steel during roller burnishing
process. In this study speed, feed and burnishing force were selected as
the input parameters of the burnishing process. Taguchi method was
utilized to design the experiments levels and the effect of each input
parameter on surface and hardness was determined by Analysis of
variance (ANOVA) method. The results proved that the feed value in
roller burnishing process has a high effect on the final quality of the
burnished surface.
Balland et al. [24] developed a 3D finite element model to under-
stand stress state during roller burnishing process of steel 11SMn30 on a
lathe machine. In this model, both elastic and plastic properties com-
bined to simulate the burnishing process effect on the material. Pre-
sented values for the hardness and residual pressure demonstrated the
high efficiency of the model to predict the mechanical behavior of the
burnished material. The study showed that the simulation results were
comparable to experiments.
Rodríguez et al. [25] have carried out research on ball burnishing
effects on surface quality and hardness in sculptured surfaces made of
AISI 1045. Additionally, two different types of burnishing strategies
including continuous burnishing and patch burnishing were compared
This type of aluminum alloy is a common material in the forging pro-
cess. It is a very useful aluminum alloy in industrial applications such as
aerospace, and car manufacturing industries due to its high machin-
ability and formability.
According to the quantometer metal analysis result, the percentages
of the used Al 7175 components base on BS EN 14726: 2005 standard
are given in Table 1.
Prior to the burnishing process, a machining process was performed
on cylindrical workpieces on a lathe machine TN50BR made in Iran.
The workpieces drawing after the machining process along with the
dimensions (in millimeters) are shown in Fig. 1.
Lathe machine TN50BR was utilized to perform the burnishing
process. To this end, a ball bearing was used to carry out the burnishing
process after installing the workpieces on the machine. The type of ball
bearing that was employed in this study was cylindrical roller bearing
made of AISI 52100 with high carbon and chromium content. In
Table 2, the equivalents of AISI 52100 steel are shown in several
common standards. Fig. 2 depicts the dimensional characteristics of the
used burnishing tool (in millimeters).
In the present study, dry burnishing process was performed for the
first group of Al7175 including seven samples with fixed values of speed
and feed; penetration depth values and number of passes were different
from one sample to another. For all the samples, the number of spindle
rotation and the feed rate value were selected to be 180 rev min−1 and
0.11 mm rev−1, respectively. Fig. 3 shows a view of the burnishing
process and the method of controlling the amount of penetration depth
applied to the burnishing tool in the lathe machine using a dial in-
dicator.
Before the burnishing process, it is necessary for the center of the
ball bearing and tailstock tip to have the same height. Also, the ball
bearing must be placed along with the central axis of the cylindrical
workpiece. It is noteworthy that the penetration depth on the surface of
the workpiece is applied to the burnishing tool by the transverse cross
slide of the lathe machine. The workpieces after the burnishing process
are shown in Fig. 4, and the penetration depth and number of passes for
each one are presented. The burnishing length of the workpieces was

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Fig. 6. Seven burnished workpieces with alumina nanoparticles (speed 180 (rpm), feed rate 0.11 (mm/rev)).

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi
Fig. 7. Measuring surface roughness of the burnished workpieces.
50 mm. (see Fig. 1).
2.1. Nanofluid preparation
First, for the burnishing process of the second group of Al7175
workpieces, a nanofluid was required to be prepared. Note that the
same size was considered in either of groups. In this research, alumina
nanoparticles were used to perform burnishing process of the Al 7175
workpieces.
Alumina as a ceramic material has a high chemical stability and
proper physical property such as hardness and high wear resistance
[27]. Alumina has a crystal structure with strong covalent bonds. Due
to the high strength of the covalent bonds throughout the lattice, alu-
mina is very hard [27]. In this study, γ−Al2O3 nanoparticles are used to
embed on the outer surface of the workpieces during the burnishing
process [28]. General information to characterize the mechanical and
thermal properties of γ−Al2O3 nanoparticles are given in Table 3.
Fig. 5 shows the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrograph of
γ−Al2O3 nanoparticle.
In this study, a carrier fluid including ethanol alcohol (C2H5OH) was
used to deliver alumina nanoparticles to the surface of workpieces in
the burnishing process. Ethanol alcohol is volatile, has low evaporation
temperature and has never been used as a coolant and lubricant in the
machining process. According to the Eq. (1), alumina nanoparticles are
not soluble in ethanol alcohol and there is no chemical reaction among
aluminum alloy, ethanol alcohol and alumina nanoparticles [29].
Fig. 8. Measuring microhardness values of the burnished aluminum samples.
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11
Al + Al2 O3 + C2 H5 OH → No reaction (1)
According to the related scientific reports, the most acceptable ratio
to combine alumina particles in nano-scale with carrier fluid is between
0.1– 0.2% [30,31]. However, in this research, the optimum combina-
tion percentage of alumina nanoparticles and ethanol alcohol was
considered to be 0.14%.
To achieve a uniform mixture of alumina nanoparticles and ethanol
alcohol, an ultrasonic probe has been utilized for 5 min. In order to
prevent some undesirable phenomena such as sedimentation of nano-
particles, the prepared mixture promptly employed for the burnishing
tests in flood type strategy. For these seven samples in the burnishing
process using ethanol nanofluid, the values for speed and feed were
fixed.
However, the values for penetration depth and the number of passes
were the same as those in the first group. The speed and feed rate values
were selected to be 180 rev min−1 and 0.11 mm rev−1.
Seven Al7175 samples burnished by ethanol nanofluid are shown in
Fig. 6 based on the penetration depth and the number of passes values
used in the burnishing process.
After the burnishing process, the values for surface roughness and
microhardness were studied in both of the groups. To specify the sur-
face roughness values for burnished specimens a portable surface
roughness device, model MarSurf TS1, is employed. Then, maximum
roughness (Rmax (μm)), ten-point mean roughness (Rz (μm)) and ar-
ithmetic surface roughness (Ra (μm)) parameters are determined for
each burnished workpiece including with or without nanoparticles ac-
cording to the ISO 4288 standard. The cut off length value for probe
motion on the surface of aluminum alloy specimens was considered to
be seven millimeters. Each sample was measured three times to ensure
the repeatability of results. The surface roughness measuring method on
the cylindrical samples of Al 7175 after the burnishing process is pre-
sented in Fig. 7.
After determining the value for surface roughness in each burnished
sample, three samples with penetration values of 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mm
were chosen and their values of microhardness were measured by
ASTM E92 to assess Vickers hardness number (HV). For each sample,
Vickers hardness number was measured three times randomly on the
surface of dry and nanofluid burnished specimens. The amount of the
load applied on the surface of the samples to measure microhardness
was 100 g in microhardness Falcon 400 device from Innova Test
Company. In Fig. 8, a view of measuring microhardness in Falcon 400 is
shown.
S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Table 4 feed rate and force of the burnishing tool, makes it possible for alumina
Comparison of the surface roughness values in dry and nanofluid burnishing nanoparticles to be trapped in the valleys of the surface. It should be
process. noted that the burnishing tool deforms the peaks based on the pene-
Rmax( μm ) Rz( μm ) Ra( μm ) Type of Penetration depth in tration depth while moving on the surface. Therefore, the existence of
burnishing burnishing process (mm) nanoparticles trapped in the surface of the workpiece improves the final
surface quality and decreases arithmetic surface roughness along with
15.49 10.73 1.906 After machining 0
filling the valleys. A penetration value of zero in Table 4 is the primary
15.60 9.48 1.772 Dry 0.1
11.60 8.67 1.483 With nanofluid surface roughness values of Al7175 before the burnishing process.
10.70 8.01 1.233 Dry 0.15 Fig. 9 reveals that the improvement percentages of the arithmetic
9.29 7.61 1.204 With nanofluid surface roughness and ten-point mean roughness increased comparing
9.68 6.97 1.120 Dry 0.2
to the initial material before burnishing, for both dry and nanofluid
10.20 6.90 0.989 With nanofluid
8.03 6.31 0.882 Dry 0.25
processes.
7.53 5.51 0.843 With nanofluid
5.90 4.69 0.766 Dry 0.3 3.2. The effect of burnishing process on microhardness
10.50 6.97 0.764 With nanofluid
6.31 5.55 0.757 Dry 0.4
5.26 4.87 0.647 With nanofluid
After performing micro hardness experiments, the hardness value
17.00 16.48 2.770 Dry 0.5 for Al 7175 samples after the machining process was measured to be
10.70 8.01 1.233 With nanofluid 148 HV. Then, three samples of each group with penetration depths of
0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mm were selected and their microhardness values were
compared in order to evaluate the hardness variations of the burnished
3. Results and discussion workpieces. The microhardness values of aluminum alloy workpieces
manufactured by dry burnishing and burnishing with ethanol nanofluid
3.1. The effect of burnishing process on final surface quality are presented in Fig. 10. in a comparative form. The penetration value
of zero in this figure is the primary hardness of Al7175 prior to the
According to the measurement to determine values of surface burnishing process which was determined to be 148 Vickers.
roughness in the aluminum alloy workpieces manufactured through dry According to the values obtained from measuring the microhardness
burnishing and also burnishing with ethanol nanofluid, the final values for burnished samples, it can be understood that using nanofluid con-
for both of the groups were presented in a comparative mode in Table 4. taining alumina nanoparticles in this study improved the surface
It should be mentioned that we have paid attention to the similarity of hardness of the workpiece compared to the workpiece manufactured
parameters of penetration depth and number of passes in this com- through dry burnishing. In other words, alumina particles with high
parison. wear resistance and good hardness are consistently trapped on the
According to Table 4 and the importance of arithmetic surface surface of the workpiece due to the flow of the ethanol fluid and the
roughness in assessing the final surface quality of burnished work- force of the burnishing tool. This in turn, causes the microhardness
pieces, the use of ethanol nanofluid in this study decreased the value of values of Al 7175 samples burnished with nanofluid to be higher than
this parameter in all the samples compared to dry burnishing process. those of the samples manufactured by dry burnishing. According to
For ten-point mean roughness and maximum roughness parameters, Fig. 10, it seems that this continuous function of alumina nanoparticles
this is almost true for most of the Al7175 samples that were in- gradually increases the hardness in each stage of the burnishing pro-
vestigated. The reason might be the tiny dimensions of alumina nano- cess.
particles utilized in the present research, which make it possible for Like other studies reviewed, the hardness numbers of the burnished
them to congest on the uneven parts on the surface of the workpiece workpieces for each group have a direct relationship with the depth of
during burnishing process and with the help of ethanol fluid. In other penetration applied on the workpiece and the number of passes. Fig. 11
words, combining the permanent flow of nanofluid and plastic de- reflects that for both dry and nanofluid burnishing processes the im-
formation in the peaks and valleys of the surface, which is due to the provement percentages of the microhardness values continuously

Fig. 9. Improvement percentages of the (a) arithmetic surface roughness and (b) ten-point mean roughness values in comparing to the initial Al7175.

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Fig. 10. Comparison between micro hardness obtained for samples with 0.3, 0.4, and 0.5 mm for dry burnishing and burnishing with nanofluid.

increased regarding the initial Al 7175 before burnishing process.

3.3. The effect of burnishing process on sub-surface hardness values

Burnishing as a cold compression forming process influences on the

Fig. 11. Percentages of the improvement in the microhardness compared to the
initial hardness of Al7175.
Fig. 12. Measuring sub-surface microhardness values depend on distance from
the top surface of the workpiece.
surface and sub-surface hardness values. In order to consider the
hardness values as a function of depth, two samples of each group with
penetration depth of 0.3, 0.4 mm were selected and their sub-surface
hardness values were compared in order to evaluate the hardness
changes under the external top surface of the workpiece. To this aim,
the samples were cut perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and
circular surface of sections were mounted with phenolic thermosetting
resin, ground and polished. Then, hardness values were measured on
the circular surface perpendicular to the burnished top surface at a load
of 0.1 kg with a loading duration 12 s. To prevent the mutual impact of
measuring points on each other, the intervals between indents were
specified more than 100 μm according to the ASTM standard E384 [32].
Fig. 12 depicts the obtained sub- surface hardness values and measuring
direction on the circular surface of sections.
According to the sub-surface values obtained for burnished samples,
it seems that using nanofluid improved the sub-surface hardness values
of the workpiece compared to dry burnishing. It can be inferred that the
simultaneous application of alumina particles and cold forming of the
burnishing process are two important factors to increase compressive
pressure on the top surface of the workpiece. Optical microscope (OM)
and Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) were used in this study to
investigate the effects of using nanofluid on the external surface of
Al7175 samples. Fig. 13 shows the deformed thickness of aluminum
alloy on the top surface of the workpiece during the nanofluid burn-
ishing process. As shown in Fig. 13 three different regions can be de-
fined: mounting resin region, the compressed surface of the workpiece,
and finally raw Al7175. The Electron Dispersion spectroscope (EDS)
analysis was employed to specify the chemical composition of the thin
layer formed on the cylindrical surface of the workpieces with the pe-
netration depths of 0.3 and 0.4 mm. By employing the images taken
from surface of the nanofluid burnished aluminum alloy specimens
with the penetration depths of 0.3, and 0.4 mm, the analyses of ele-
ments was carried out in order to assess elements’ distribution on the
material surface. By performing this approach, it is possible to discover
the presence of aluminum and oxygen elements in alumina. Since the
specimens are made of Al7175, the images of aluminum element cannot
exactly reflect the distribution of alumina nanoparticles on the surface
of burnished specimens. However, to analyze the distribution of alu-
mina nanoparticles on the nanofluid burnished surface, the image of
oxygen element can be used. Table 5 depicts the aluminum and oxygen
elements’ distribution on the surface of nanofluid burnished aluminum
alloy samples with penetration depths of 0.3 and 0.4 mm.
The images of oxygen element confirm that the hard alumina na-
noparticles embedded on the surface of the burnished specimens. Based

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S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi
Fig. 13. Optical microscope image of nanofluid burnished samples (a) with 0.3 mm depth of penetration, (b) with 0.4 mm depth of penetration.
on EDS images it can be shown that the higher the penetration depth
the more the amount of oxygen elements on the surface.
Fig. 14 shows a thin layer of nano alumina coated on the top surface
of the workpiece after nano burnishing process with the penetration
depth of 0.4 mm. Moreover, the results substantiated that embedded
hard alumina nanoparticles increased microhardness values on the
surface of the burnished specimens.
4. Conclusions and future works
In this research, a new approach is introduced in burnishing process
using nanofluid containing alumina nanoparticles. In addition, in order
to study the effects of the presented method on the surface quality and
microhardness of Al7175 samples, the results were compared to those
of dry burnishing process. Although, penetration depth and number of
passes were variable, the input parameters of speed, feed, diameter of
the workpiece, and burnishing tool were considered the same in both
burnishing processes. Based on the results the following conclusions can
be made:
1 Using alumina nanoparticles in burnishing process of Al7175
workpieces confirmed that the improvement in final surface quality
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Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11
and microhardness are significantly higher compared to those of dry
burnishing.
2 As an important parameter to evaluate surface quality, arithmetic
surface roughness in all samples burnished with nanofluid is lower
than this value for samples from dry burnishing. For instance, ac-
cording to Fig. 9a, the surface quality in nanofluid burnished sam-
ples is increased approximately 15%, 5% and 8% for penetration
depths of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.4 mm comparing to those of dry burnishing.
3 Ten-point mean roughness and maximum roughness values are de-
creased in most of the samples obtained from burnishing with alu-
mina nanofluid. For instance, according to Fig. 9b, the ten-point
mean roughness in nanofluid burnished samples is decreased ap-
proximately by 12%, 8% and 6% at penetration depths of 0.1, 0.25,
and 0.4 mm comparing to those of dry burnishing.
4 The trapped alumina nanoparticles in the valleys of the workpiece
surface due to the continuous flow of the nanofluid and radial force
of the burnishing tool are two important factors resulted in de-
creasing surface roughness values and increasing microhardness in a
cold forming process such as burnishing.
5 According to the direct relation of hardness value and depth of pe-
netration, the microhardness values enhanced for each group with
the increase of depth of penetration in the burnishing process.
S. Khalilpourazary and J. Salehi Journal of Manufacturing Processes 39 (2019) 1–11

Table 5
EDS images of oxygen and aluminum distribution on the cylindrical surface of nanofluid burnished samples.
Depth of penetration (mm) Beam energy Scan are Image of aluminum element Image for oxygen element

0.3 15 keV (∼μm)2

0.4 15 keV (˜μm)2

penetration depth of 0.4 mm.

For future research, it is worthwhile to investigate some important

aspects of the process such as residual stresses, porosity, wear re-
sistance, fatigue life and coating characteristics. Considering other
materials, nanofluids or burnishing parameters such as feed, speed, and
depth of burnishing is another extension of this work to obtain better
results from the burnishing process with a nanofluid.

References

Fig. 14. SEM image of alumina layer on the top surface of the workpiece with
0.4 mm depth of penetration.
6 According to Fig. 11, the values of microhardness for the nanofluid
burnished samples with three penetration depth of 0.3, 0.4, and
0.5 mm is increased about 8%, 20% and 19% comparing to those
values for samples manufactured through dry sampling.
7 According to Fig. 12, alumina nanoparticles in combination with a
compressive stress of the burnishing process can be increased cre-
ated pressure on the external surface of the workpiece to obtain high
sub- surface hardness values.
8 The results confirmed that a thin layer of nano alumina covered the
top surface of the workpiece after nano burnishing process with the
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