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Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248

2nd CIRP 2nd CIRP Conference on Surface Integrity (CSI)

Enhancing the surface integrity of Ti-6Al-4V alloy through

cryogenic burnishing
J. Caudilla, B. Huanga, C. Arvina, J. Schoopa, K. Meyerb, I.S. Jawahira*
a
Institute for Sustainable Manufacturing, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506, USA
b
GE Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio 40506, USA
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 859-323-3239; fax: 859-257-1071.E-mail address: is.jawahir@uky.edu.

Abstract

Burnishing is a chipless machining process that modifies the surface integrity by severe plastic deformation (SPD) of the burnished
material. The application of cryogenics during the burnishing process acts to rapidly cool the burnished work material; thus,
leading to surface modification. In this research work cryogenic burnishing was performed to produce the SPD layer to obtain
improved properties in Ti-6Al-4V alloy. In the SPD layer produced by cryogenic burnishing, increased hardness, refined grain
structure, and a drastically improved surface finish, along with compressive residual stresses are achieved. The cryogenic
burnishing of Ti-6Al-4V alloy was shown to be superior to flood-cooled and dry burnishing in terms of surface integrity and the
likely functional performance of components during the service life of such components.
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The International Scientific Committee of the 2nd Conference on Surface Integrity
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The International Scientific Committee of the 2nd Conference on Surface
in the person of the Conference Chair Prof Dragos Axinte dragos.axinte@nottingham.ac.uk
Integrity in the person of the Conference Chair Prof Dragos Axinte dragos.axinte@nottingham.ac.uk

Keywords: Cryogenic Burnishing; Surface Integrity; Titanium

1. Introduction
Ti-6Al-4V is the most widely employed Titanium
alloy used in the aerospace industry. Its unique
combination of high strength, low weight (relative to
steel), thermo-mechanical properties, formability, and
corrosion resistance make it an ideal material choice for
aerospace airframe and engine components [1-3].
Severe plastic deformation (SPD) processes have
been commonly used to enhance the surface integrity
properties of materials by creating a layer of grain
refinement in the surface and subsurface regions that
exhibit enhanced mechanical properties [4-6]. In
particular, SPD processes have also been used to modify
the surface integrity of Ti-6Al-4V [7-9]. Burnishing is
one such process for SPD generation, and it has been
shown in the current work that by applying cryogenics,
which rapidly cools the workpiece during work-
hardening, surface integrity can be significantly
modified as compared to burnishing conducted under
dry and flood cooling conditions.
2. Experimental work
2.1 Material Information
The Ti-6Al-4V alloy under investigation was supplied
by GE Aviation, Cincinnati, Ohio, with a composition
(wt. %) of approximately 6.31% Al, 4.06% V, 1.16 %
Fe, less than 0.25% of O, Si, C, Mo, and the remainder
Ti [10]. The material was prepared as 145.4 mm long
cylindrical bars with a diameter of 38.6 mm. The
microstructure was composed of equiaxed primary -
grains and lamellar + [11] with a measured mean
hardness of 34.1 HRC.
2.2 Burnishing Process
Burnishing experiments were conducted on a HAAS
TL-2 CNC lathe with an Air Products ICEFLYTM
cryogenic delivery system. Liquid Nitrogen was applied
at the contact interface between the tool and work piece.
The tool used was a UniversalTM burnishing tools UBT-

2212-8271 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of The International Scientific Committee of the 2nd Conference on Surface Integrity in the person
of the Conference Chair Prof Dragos Axinte dragos.axinte@nottingham.ac.uk
doi:10.1016/j.procir.2014.04.042
244 J. Caudill et al. / Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248
T2 with a 3.04 mm diameter tungsten carbide roller.
The following modifications were made to the tool to
improve its accuracy and its functionality in the presence
of liquid nitrogen: The stock gauge was replaced with a
more accurate version, the mounting bracket was
redesigned in order to move the gauge to the top of the
tool for accurate real time force observation, the
tolerance of the mounting holes were tightened in order
to remove slack from the system, a polycarbonate sled
was added to reduce the relative sliding friction of the
parts, a Teflon shim was added to the system to reduce
friction between the gauge bracket and the base, springs
were added to reduce vibration and to hold tension
where necessary, and low temperature grease was used
in order for the tool to function properly in the -196 C
environment created by liquid nitrogen. The final
assembled burnishing tool and the experimental setup
are shown in figure 1, and the sub-components of the
tooling assembly are shown in figure 2.
c
b
a more uniform and slightly smoother surface finish in dry
Figure 1: Experimental setup: (a) modified burnishing tool, (b)
workpiece, (c) nozzle for liquid nitrogen application
c
b
a 1.6
d
Figure 2: Sub-components of tooling assembly: (a) force gauge, (b)
modified mounting bracket, (c) tungsten carbide roller, (d) Teflon shim
The cylindrical bars were burnished under dry,
flood-cooled, and cryogenic conditions at preloads of
1000 N, 1500 N, 2000 N, and 2500 N. The following
parameters were held constant: pre-burnishing feed rate
= 0.18 mm/rev, burnishing feed rate = 0.05 mm/rev, and
burnishing speed = 150 m/min.
2.3 Measuring Equipment
Surface roughness measurements were made by using
a Zygo New View 7300 scanning white light
interferometer. Hardness measurements were obtained
using a Vickers indentation profile on a CLARK Digital
micro-hardness tester with an applied load of 100 gf and
a 15 second dwell time. Microhardness indentation
measurement and microstructure analysis were
performed using a Nikon EPIPHOT 300 optical
microscope.
3. Results and Discussion
3.1 Surface Roughness
As-burnished surface roughness showed significant
reduction in the Ra values of the finished surface as
compared to the pre-burnished samples, which were
turned to roughness Ra = 1.31 m. After processing,
dry, flood-cooled, and cryogenic burnishing showed
maximum reductions of 63.4%, 58.2%, and 56.7%
respectively. These results are shown in Figure 3. Since
Ti-6Al-4V possesses an extremely low thermal
conductivity, the local temperature rise in the burnishing
zone can be quite significant. If there is no mechanism
of heat removal, as is the case in dry burnishing, surface
asperities can more readily be deformed during
burnishing. This increase in temperature-induced
plasticity effect offers a possible explanation for the
burnishing. The effect of preload upon surface roughness
was found to be minimal, regardless of burnishing
condition.
Surface roughness vs. Preload
Surface roughness Ra (m)
1.4
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0
1000 1500 2000 2500
Preload (N)
Cryogenic Flood
Dry Pre-Burnished
Figure 3: Surface roughness comparison for dry, flood-cooled,
and cryogenic burnishing conditions at varying preload
 J. Caudill et al. / Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248 245

3.2 Microhardness to fully elucidate the complex interplay of strain

hardening and thermal softening in Ti-6Al-4V during
Investigation of surface hardness reveals significant burnishing under various conditions.
increases in hardness from the virgin material. As can be
seen in Figure 4, all tested burnishing conditions Subsurface microhardness variation for cryogenic,
exhibited elevated surface hardness values. Burnishing dry, and flood cooling conditions are illustrated in
performed under cryogenic and flood-cooled conditions Figures 5-7 for a selected preload of 2500 N.
were capable of producing maximum surface hardness Measurements were taken to a depth of 2 mm in order to
increases of 64.2% and 48.9% respectively, while dry establish the extent of the burnished layer depth (BLD),
burnishing only led to a maximum surface hardness which is illustrated in Figure 7.
increase of 32.8%. Moreover, both cryogenic and flood-
cooled burnishing showed a trend of increasing surface 60 Hardness vs. Depth: 2500 N Preload
hardness with increasing preload, whereas in dry 55 Cryogenic
burnishing, increased preload led to lower surface Dry

Hardness (HRC)
50 Flood
hardness values. This observation offers further Bulk
evidence for justifying the thermal softening resulting 45
from increased temperature with no cooling in dry 40
burnishing. 35

30
Surface Hardness Increase vs. Preload 0 500 1000 1500 2000
70 56.0 HRC Depth from surface (m)
Surface Hardness Increase (%)

54.2 HRC
60 52.7 HRC
51.2 HRC
50 49.9 HRC
50.2 HRC 50.8 HRC
Figure 5: Subsurface microhardness variation for a selected preload of
46.6 HRC 2500 N for cryogenic, flood-cooled, and dry burnishing conditions
40
45.3 HRC
30 43.2 HRC
42.3 HRC 42.3 HRC Hardness vs. Depth: 2500 N Preload (Inlet)
20 60 Cryogenic
10 55 Flood
Hardness (HRC)

Dry
0 50 Bulk
1000 1500 2000 2500 45
Preload (N) 40
Cryogenic Flood Dry 35
30
Figure 4: Surface Hardness Increase vs. Preload for cryogenic, flood- 0 50 100 150 200
cooled, and dry burnishing conditions Depth from surface (m)

The presence of a cooling mechanism in flood and Figure 6: Inlet of subsurface microhardness variation
cryogenic burnishing offsets the effect of thermal
softening seen in dry burnishing. Coolant removes heat Hardness vs. Depth: 2500 N Preload (Outlet)
generated during the burnishing process, and thus allows
the material to be compressed at higher preloads. When BLD
preload is increased, the dislocation density in the 40 Cryogenic
titanium workpiece increases, leading to strain Dry
39
Flood
hardening. Therefore, there are two competing 38
Hardness (HRC)

Bulk
mechanisms during the burnishing of Ti-6Al-4V, namely 37
strain hardening and thermal softening. Without coolant, 36
thermal softening is more dominant than strain 35
34
hardening because heat accumulates near the surface of
33
the workpiece, essentially annealing the dislocation 32
network and thus lowering hardness. Conventional 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
flood cooling carries away some heat but liquid nitrogen Depth from Surface (m)
is an even more capable coolant. Consequently,
cryogenic burnishing is the most effective method of
increasing surface hardness due to the strong cooling Figure 7: Outlet of subsurface microhardness variation and illustration
of burnished layer depth (BLD)
effect of liquid nitrogen. Further study will be necessary
246
Microhardness depth profiles in as-burnished Ti-6Al-
4V varied, and were distinct for each burnishing
condition. Cryogenic burnishing showed higher hardness
values throughout the burnished layer when compared
with flood-cooled and dry burnishing. As Figure 7
illustrates, each burnishing condition was associated
with a different BLD. The value of the BLD was taken
as the depth at which hardness reached and maintained
an absolute value of 1.1 HRC from the bulk hardness.
This represents the range of a 95% confidence interval
obtained when measuring the hardness of the virgin
material.
The BLD values for all tested experimental preloads
and burnishing conditions are summarized in Figure 8.
It was observed that for all burnishing conditions
increased preload led to a higher BLD. Also, cryogenic
experiments produced a deeper burnished layer than
flood-cooled or dry burnishing for all tested preloads
(Maximum differences of 25% and 16.7% for dry and
flood-cooled respectively). Likewise, flood cooling
produced a deeper BLD than dry burnishing for all
conditions. From a 1000 N preload to 2500 N,
cryogenic, flood-cooled, and dry burnishing show an
increase in their BLD by 25%, 21.4%, and 16.7%
respectively. Higher preloads generate higher surface
pressure assuming constant cross-sectional contact area.
This in turn implies higher contact stress, and
consequently increased deformation and a larger BLD.
The differences observed between burnishing conditions
can again be explained by the effect of temperature on
the workpiece plasticity. Similar to forging, increased
temperature as in dry burnishing reduces the effect of
strain hardening and reduces the change in mechanical
properties due to processing. The rapid temperature
decrease of cryogenic cooling effectively increases the
amount of permanent strain hardening due to a reduction
in thermal softening.
1800 Burnished Layer Depth vs. Preload
Depth from Surface (m)
1600
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
1000 1500
Preload (N)
Cryogenic Flood
Figure 8: Burnished Layer Depth vs. Preload for cryogenic, flood-
cooled, and dry conditions
J. Caudill et al. / Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248
Figure 9 illustrates the mean increase in hardness
over the entire burnished layer from the workpiece
surface to the BLD. The mean is meant to present a
measure for the overall change in sub-surface hardness
as a result of burnishing.
Mean Hardness Increase in Burnished Layer
30
Mean Hardness Increase (%)
25
20
15
10
5
0
1000 1500 2000 2500
Preload (N)
Cryogenic Flood Dry
Figure 9: Mean Hardness Increase in Burnished layer vs. Preload for
cryogenic, flood-cooled, and dry conditions
Just as the surface hardness trends observed in Figure
4, the mean hardness increase displays a similar profile
for the various burnishing conditions. Consequently, it is
assumed that the general mechanisms giving rise to these
trends in surface hardness, i.e. thermal softening and
strain hardening also control hardness in the sub-surface.
The mean hardness in flood cooling is essentially
unchanged across the spectrum of tested preloads. In
terms of sub-surface hardness, cryogenic burnishing
exhibited higher hardness values than flood-cooled or
dry burnishing throughout the BLD for all tested
preloads. Again, this observation is readily explained by
the ability of liquid nitrogen to mitigate the negative
effects of thermal softening, thus preserving the
dominance of strain hardening as the mechanism
controlling (sub-) surface hardness.
3.3 Microstructural Analysis
A novel approach was used to determine the
correlation between changes in surface integrity
parameters due to burnishing and observed changes in
the microstructure of Ti-6Al-4V. It is hypothesized that
by carefully over-etching a given sample, the prevalent
2000 2500
compressive residual stresses in the SPD layer would
induce a layer of corrosion resistance that would resist
Dry
the chemical etching more than the bulk. The result of
this would be an optical reflectivity gradient from the
burnished surface of the material into its bulk regions
that could be measured and quantified. Figure 10 shows
2D cross sectional views of the microstructures at 25x
 J. Caudill et al. / Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248 247

magnification for cryogenic, flood-cooled, and dry
burnishing conditions for 2500 N and 1000 N preloads.
Cryogenic
Quantification of the observed optical gradient was
performed by measuring the surface reflectivity in terms
of intensity using an image analysis software package.
By determining at what depth the reflectivity fell below
the mean and no longer displayed a trend of decreasing
intensity, allowed for the establishment of the SPD layer
depth for a given burnishing condition. These results are

2500 N Preload illustrated in Figures 11-13.

Intensity vs. Depth: Cryogenic 2500 N Preload

55000
Cryogenic
50000 95 m Mean

Intensity (cd)
1000 N Preload 45000
40000
35000
Flood-cooled

30000
2500 N Preload 0 100 200 300
Depth from surface (m)

Figure 11: Intensity vs. Depth for cryogenic burnishing at 2500 N

preload

1000 N Preload Intensity vs. Depth: Flood 2500 N Preload

55000 56 m Flood
Mean
50000
Intensity (cd)

45000
40000
2500 N Preload 35000
Dry

30000
0 100 200 300
Depth from surface (m)

1000 N Preload Figure 12: Intensity vs. Depth for flood-cooled burnishing at 2500 N
preload
100 m
Intensity vs. Depth: Dry 2500 N Preload
55000 14 m Dry
Figure 10: 25x Microstructure images at 2500 and 1000 N preloads
Mean
for cryogenic, flood-cooled, and dry burnishing 50000
Intensity (cd)

45000
From Figure 10 it is readily observable that a layer of
40000
enhanced surface reflectivity is indeed present in the
surface and near surface regions of samples burnished 35000
with a 2500 N preload. For samples burnished under
30000
cryogenic and flood-cooled conditions this optical
0 100 200 300
gradient is particularly prominent. For samples tested at Depth from surface (m)
1000 N, the reflectivity gradient is not easily discerned
even though it was etched under identical parameters. Figure 13: Intensity vs. Depth for dry burnishing at 2500 N preload
This observation is consistent with our hypothesis, since
this preload also showed the lowest hardness values. From this intensity analysis it was determined that
Furthermore, a more significant optical gradient is cryogenic burnishing produced a SPD layer that was
expected to be present at higher preloads for cryogenic 69.6% thicker than flood-cooled and 578% thicker than
and flood-cooled samples but not for dry burnishing, dry burnishing at a given preload. In the future, grain
where thermal softening led to reduced hardness values. size and volume fraction of the individual phases will be
248 J. Caudill et al. / Procedia CIRP 13 (2014) 243 248
measured, and X-ray diffraction methods will be used to
measure the residual stress depth profile, which will
allow further evaluation of this novel technique.
A comprehensive picture of the surface integrity after
burnishing is shown in Figure 14 for Ti-6Al-4V
cryogenically burnished with a 2500 N preload. It
illustrates the presence of a highly compressive and
refined SPD layer near the surface which correlates with
higher hardness values and likely the most significant
levels of compressive residual stresses. Beneath the SPD
layer a transition zone is observed that shows decreasing
hardness and compression until a unique BLD is reached
and the mechanical properties exhibit unmodified
characteristics.
SPD
Transition Zone
BLD
1mm
25x
Figure 14: Post-burnished structure of Ti-6Al-4V cryogenically
burnished at 2500 N
4. Conclusions
Based on the preliminary experimental observations
presented in this paper, it can be concluded that
burnishing of Ti-6Al-4V is controlled by two major
mechanisms namely strain hardening and thermal
softening. This hypothesis was substantiated by the
experimental observations that show lower surface
roughness, i.e., higher plasticity was found in dry
burnishing over burnishing conducted under cryogenic
and flood cooling. Moreover, the same thermal
softening effect led to lower hardness values in dry and
flood burnishing compared to cryogenic burnishing.
Cryogenics controls the detrimental effect of thermal
softening, thus allowing for increased hardness
throughout the burnished layer depth.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to sincerely thank GE Aviation
for their sponsorship of the burnishing research
presented in this paper.
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