Robot-guided centrifugal finishing is a new manufacturing technology that is suitable for
machining complex surfaces and geometries such as engine blades. Compared with other
established mass finishing processes robot-guided centrifugal finishing has a significantly
shorter process time. In addition robot-guided centrifugal finishing is considered to have
great potential for introducing residual compressive stresses close to the surface of the
workpiece. This means that conventional processes such as shot peening which are also used to
induce residual compressive stresses close to the surface can be substituted. The disadvantage
however is the time- and cost-intensive process design. This is due to the fact that the
contact between abrasive media and the workpiece has not been sufficiently scientifically
researched. Thus a knowledge-based process design is not possible.The subject of this
dissertation is the explanation of the surface integrity as a function of the process state
variables between abrasive media and the workpiece during robot-guided centrifugal finishing.
The approach is divided into three main steps. In the first main step the contact between
abrasive media and the workpiece was investigated. For this purpose empirical investigations
of the contact between abrasive media and the workpiece in robot-guided centrifugal finishing
were carried out. In addition the contact process between abrasive media and the workpiece was
analyzed using the discrete element method. The second main step served to investigate friction
and material removal mechanisms. First empirical friction tests were carried out using a
developed tribometer. Subsequently empirical investigations of the material removal mechanisms
in robot-guided centrifugal finishing were carried out. Within the third main step the
resulting surface integrity was investigated. For this purpose empirical investigations of
robot-guided centrifugal finishing were carried out with workpieces that had been pre-machined
by different manufacturing technologies. Finally the findings were combined in an explanatory
model which was developed on the basis of the cause-and-effect relationships between the
process input variables and the contact parameters and of the cause-and-effect relationships
between the process state variables and the process result variables.
