Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Burr formation is a major concern in the surface and edge finishing of work
parts, which eventually leads to reduced work parts resistance, tool life and
productivity rate. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the burr formation; otherwise the
use of secondary operations known as deburring becomes essential. Throughout
intensive research works during the last decades, the mechanisms of burr formation
are very well understood and comprehensive and integrated strategies for burr
prevention and minimization were introduced. However, particular attention should
to be paid to deburring operations, which are in fact expensive, time consuming, non-
productive and non-value added processes.

According to the main critical factors on deburring complexity are burr

location, length and number of edges to be deburred and burr size. In fact, the
secondary finishing operations are difficult to automate, therefore they may become
a bottleneck in production lines. There are more than 100 deburring methods,
therefore proper understanding of the basic mechanisms of burr formation and
optimal cutting parameters is strongly suggested for an adequate selection of
deburring method and minimizing the non-desirable expenses. This subject becomes
even more difficult when dealing with aluminum components.

The burr sizes in aluminum work parts vary when changing the machining
mode and cutting conditions. The burrs in aluminum works parts can be excessively
large and irregular or small, even not visible for naked eyes if proper conditions are
used. The major machinability assets related to aluminum alloy include tool life, chip
characteristics, chip disposal, surface finish and burr formation, which might be also
affected after deburring operations

The major side effects of deburring methods on aluminum work parts may
appear on dimensions, tensile residual stress, smut, discoloration, surface passivation
and generation of new burrs. In addition, the rate at which the work parts are rejected
due to presence of burrs is also amongst essential criteria for deburring selection.
Therefore, acquiring a solid knowledge on deburring methods and the links.
between them and burr size is strongly recommended. In this article, the most highly

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used industrial deburring methods in aluminum work parts will be presented. This
can be beneficial for an adequate selection of deburring methods, cost reduction and
production rate improvement.
The burr formation is one of the most common and undesirable phenomenon
occurring in machining operations, which reduces assembly and machined part
quality. To remove the burrs, a costly and non-value-added process known as
deburring is required for post-processing and edge finishing. A basic overview of
burr formation and removal is presented in this paper. Due to vast applications of
aluminum alloys in many industrial sectors, such as automotive and aerospace
industries, this paper also describes the most highly used deburring and edge
finishing on aluminum machined parts. The main advantages, disadvantages,
limitations, part quality and precision of these operations are presented. This can be
beneficial for an adequate selection of deburring methods, cost reduction and
production rate improvement

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 Chapter 2
OVERVIEW OF BURR FORMATION

As defined in, the edges on a workpiece is called burr if they have an overhang
greater than zero

Fig 2.1 .Slot milled 6061-T6 aluminum machined part with (a)
large burrs (b) acceptable burr size.

Fig 2.1 Exit burrs when drilling 6061-T6 aluminum work parts.

As can be seen in Figure 3, to better describe the burr, a new term called “burr
value” was defined in. It contains the burr root thickness (br), burr height (bh), burr
thickness (bt) and burr root radius (rf).The burr height and thickness are used to
determine the tool replacement and schedule and also burr removal difficulties [8].

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However the longitudinal profile of the burr is not highly informative in most cases,
as it is rarely used to describe burrs.

Fig 3. Measurement values of burr.

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 Chapter 3
DEBURRING OPERATIONS
Burrs have always been a serious concern in the surface and edge finishing of
machined parts. According to achieving an excellent edge quality when using
deburring processes is often difficult. To better select the deburring processes, several
classifications were proposed The most complete one was made in, encompassing all
deburring methods, from manual deburring to high technology finishing systems
using CNC and industrial robots. Gillespie has identified 122 deburring and edge
finishing processes which can be classified under following categories:
 Mechanical deburring processes;
 Thermal deburring processes;
 Chemical deburring processes;
 Electrical deburring processes
According to Table 3.1, the most frequently used deburring processes in
manufacturing industries have been introduced by Gillespie. Most of deburring tools
and processes are developed for materials with specific geometries. Therefore,
correct selection of deburring process is essential. The first approach for deburring
process selection was proposed in Later, a software tool was developed in for
similar purpose. In this tool, burr shape, surface roughness, workpiece properties,
weight and volume were used to create the database. Thilow also introduced an
industrial system for similar purpose.
Table 2.1.The most frequently used deburring processes.

No. Deburring process No. Deburring process

1 Manual deburring 6 Barrel deburring

2 Brush deburring 7 Centrifugal barrel finishing

3 Bonded abrasive deburring 8 Robotic deburring

4 Abrasive jet deburring 9 Electro chemical deburring

5 NC/CNC deburring 10 Vibratory finishing

As described earlier, all reported deburring processes have certain levels of side
effects on work parts. This article does not, however, try to present the main
advantages, disadvantages and restrictions related to deburring processes.

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Furthermore, due to limited space in this article, the main highly used deburring
methods on aluminum work parts will be presented in the following sections.

3.1 Mechanical deburring processes

During mechanical deburring processes, the burrs are reduced or removed by

mechanical abrasion. Various mechanical deburring systems were developed so far
The overview of most highly used mechanical deburring methods for aluminum
alloys will be presented in the following sections.
3.2 Manual deburring
Manual deburring is still known as the most widely used operation for many
reasons, including extreme flexibility, low cost and lack of technology needed.
According to [3], manual deburring is associated with wasting of time and asset,
fatigue, frustration, etc. Moreover, in most of industrial sectors, manual deburring is
implemented in dry conditions by non- qualified operators. This consequently
increases the waste rate and delay in production lines.

3.3 Abrasive blasting

Abrasive blasting is known as one the subcomponents of the blast finishing

which require less labor than other deburring methods. Blasting equipment is
designed to provide a concentrated stream that impacts specific edge
The main types of abrasive blasting deburring include:
1. Conventional dry blasting
2. Conventional wet blasting
3. Microblasting
Conventional dry blasting commonly use air blasting and centrifugal wheel
(airless) blasting. The work parts coated with grease or oil can not be easily cleaned
or finished by dry blasting. Thus the degreasing and drying should be performed prior
to blasting. The use of dry blasting for automatic deburring is examined in Wet
blasting or vapor blasting uses the media particle in slurry form and does not require
the use of dust collector or ventilation equipments. This method also provides a good
surface finish. The main operational variables involved in wet blasting are velocity
and density of blast slurry, abrasive type and size, angle of attach, blast nozzle size,
type and distance from work part and desired work part quality level and production
rate.
Microblasting, also known as abrasive-jet machining (AJM) is used for removing
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material from work parts using a high-speed stream of media particles through a
nozzle by gas. This process is used for cutting, deburring, clearing and edge finishing
of wide range of materials, including aluminum alloys, with very low level of waste
rate. The process is capable of removing burrs from the base without forming radius
at the part edges. To this end, the parts should be securely fastened during deburring
process. Many sides of the work part can be deburred by a single orientation of the
abrasive jet. This method is recommended for hard, brittle and miniature materials.
This deburring method is fast, but usually only one piece can be deburred at a time.
Furthermore, the consumed energy level is relatively low as compared to other
methods. As shown in Table 2, the relative cutting (drilling) action on various
materials, with higher index numbers indicates greater efficiency. According to
Table 2, the drilling efficiency of 2024-T4 aluminum alloys is larger than that of
glass and stainless steel AISI304.
Table 3.2. Relative cutting action of various materials

Material Cutting index

Glass 0.6
Aluminum alloy 2024-T4 1.6
Stainless steel AISI304 0.9
Cold rolled steel 1.0
Ferrite 3.0
Neoprene 0.05
Al2O3 0.4

3.4 Bonded-abrasive deburring

Bonded abrasive deburring or sanding is a versatile deburring technique which

can be applied when heavy stock removal is intended. This method performs well in
manual and automated operations that are used for deburring and surface
smoothing. Many types of bonded abrasives are available (see Figure 4) for dry and
lubricated deburring of aluminum alloys and metals work parts. According to [3],
three dimensional abrasives products that successfully removed burrs from drilled
holes in aluminum work parts did not show enough strength to remove burrs on
drilled holes in stainless steels. The main benefits of bonded-abrasive deburring are

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low cost; large variety of models and great adaptability to manual or automatic
equipment. On the other hand, the main disadvantages of this method include short
life time, generation of dust emission and new burrs, significant effects on residual
stress and surface quality and lack of access to certain sides of the work part.

Fig 3.1. Bonded abrasive slotted tool for deburring

3.5 Brush deburring

The power-driven brush tools have wide range of applications in deburring,
cleaning, descaling, polishing, edge blending and texturizing of the metal work parts.
The brush deburring (see Figure 5) is considered as a fast, safe, simple, relatively
inexpensive, and flexible deburring method, which could be also adaptable to manual
or automatic equipment with little operator interference. The rotary action in brushing
allows a great variety of driving motor and fixtures to be employed.

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 Fig 3.2. Deburring and edge finishing brush
The brush deburring involves several environmental, health and safety
considerations, including particle and dust emission when using dry sanding of metal
and plastic parts. The generation of new burr, new changes on the work part size,
fatigue life and residual stress are the main disadvantages and side effects of brush
deburring. As described in brush deburring method is widely used for deburring of
aluminum work parts, such as cylinder heads

Before deburring After deburring

Fig 3.3 Burr edges before and after deburring in 6061-T6 aluminum machined
parts
The main process variables involved in brush deburring include, brush style,
brush design and materials, face width, coolant, brush rotational speed, burr size, burr
location and work part material.

(a)

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 (b)

(c)
Figure 3.4 Brush deburring of aluminum cylinder head with
various brushing tools

3.3 Manual metal cutting/deburring machines

Manual metal cutting/deburring machines can be classified into end-finishing, single

purpose and multiple-purposes machines. These machines have been widely used
for deburring, brushing, grinding, polishing and buffing of aluminum alloys [3]. A
deburring tool with a hemi-spherical cutting head mounted on a pivot shaft was
constructed to remove the burrs in intersecting holes of aluminum alloys [19]. Figure
8 shows the drilling edges in 6061-T6 aluminum specimens before and after
deburring process. It is exhibited that the burr formation on the exit side of a drilled
hole is influenced by exit angle of the burr edge. Kim et al. [20] developed a
drilling tool capable of deburring. This tool incorporates a deburring cutter which is

10
mounted on a cantilever located within a cavity in the shank of the drill. The
experimental verifications conducted on aluminum alloys have shown satisfactory
results. Avila [15] described an Orbitool deburring (see Figure 10), capable to create
a chamfer on the edge of cross- drilled hole intersections, and removing the burrs,
while causing no damage to the surfaces of the hole. He verified his device using
experimental works on 6061-T6 aluminum components (see Figure 11) and
concluded that this device can be used as an alternative to abrasive brush deburring.

Fig 3.7. New deburring tool proposed by

As can be seen in Figure 12,a new method for deburring intersecting holes was also
proposed by Lee and Ko [21]. This is a deburring tool applied in the high speed
deburring of intersecting holes, not flat surfaces. There are two cutting edges on the
tool which are supplied by coolant or air. No spring has been used in the tool. This
allows high flexibility of the tool by controlling the air or coolant pressure.

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 Fig 3.8. Drilling edges before and after deburring in 6061-T6 aluminum
specimens

Fig 3.9. The Orbitool and its components

3.4 NC/CNC machining centers

Due to growing demands on higher production rate, improved quality and less labour
and production cost, particular interest has been paid to use of NC/CNC machines for
precise deburring and chamfering of holes, flat and curved surfaces. The NC/CNC
machines can brush the machined parts by simply attaching the brushing tools
(miniature or large scales) in a tool holder. It also allows the machine to change the
tooling conditions and begins the cutting operations and simultaneously taking the
advantage of over 1000 standard cutting tools, thus providing great flexibility. Other
benefits of NC/CNC machines include prevention of repetitive motions in hand
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deburring, and lost time due to work-related injuries which may lead to a major cost
saving in production line. When using NC/CNC machines, it is also possible to pick
up a movable water jet nozzle and traverse it around the machined part edges for
deburring and edge finishing However this method can be used on the aluminum
work parts which require reasonable but not complete burr removal.

Fig 3.5. (a)The Orbitool deburring process (b) 6061-T6

aluminum test samples

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Fig 3.6. Beier deburring tool: (a) Beier tool, (b) Cutting edge of the Beier tool, (c)
inner surface and (d) intersecting hole.
A polishing/deburring machine is developed in consisting of two subsystems .
The first subsystem is a five-axis machine for tool/part motion control and the second
subsystem is a compliant toolhead for tool force control. Both subsystems are
designed based on the tripodprinciple. According to experimental results, this
machine could perfectly perform automated polishing/deburring on aluminum work
parts. In addition, the use of NC/CNC machines may not produce high quality cast or
forged surfaces. The main concerns when using NC/CNC machines are
comprehensively presented in

Figure 3.7 High pressure water jet deburring of aluminum cylinder heads

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 Figure 3.8 Deburring toolhead adaptable on a CNC machine
center spindle
3.5 Robotic deburring

Robots can operate with no time limit (three shifts a day), reproduce the same
motions accurately; can process workpieces faster than humans, they can use heavier,
higher-powered tools for faster finishing, they can work in hazardous, noisy and
ergonomically unsuitable situations for humans (see Figure 15). Robotic deburring is
used to reduce the work load and guarantee an adequate workpiece quality level.
Robotic applications fall into three general areas (1) simple-shape deburring and
chamfering, (2) contouring and (3) sensor-controlled countering. A framework for
robotic deburring applications in various industrial sectors was proposed.

Figure 3.9. Robot deburring on an aluminum motorcycle

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 cylinder head

The use of robots for deburring operation was reported in [24; 25]. Robotic deburring
of gearbox casting made from aluminum alloys is presented in [26]. In [27], an on-line
industrial robot path generation method has been developed and implemented to
generate robot paths for deburring cast aluminum wheels (see Figure 16). This method
could automatically generate 6 degree of freedom (DOF) tool paths for an accurate
and efficient deburring process.

Figure 310. A deburred and polished aluminum wheel

Kazerooni [28] presented robotic deburring using tungsten cemented carbide rotary
files He introduced robot-position uncertainties in deburring and a feed-back system
working according to the prescribed controlled strategy. Experimental verifications
on aluminum work parts have shown satisfactory results. Dornfeld [29] introduced
the fundamental principles of using acoustic emission (AE) in chamfering and
deburring operations and verified his approach through experimental works on 6061-
T6 aluminum alloys. An overview of a robot arm combined with deburring brush is
depicted in Figure 17 [30]. Hirabayashi et al. presented deburring robots equipped
with force sensors for automatic deburring of elevator guide rails. The more widely
used applications employ advanced robots that use five-axis compliant tools, capable
to remove most, but not all burrs
3.6 Other deburring methods
Wide range of deburring methods which could be used for aluminum works parts
were presented in [3]. Amongst, a deburring method for milled surfaces was proposed

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. In this work, an inductor producing a co-current magnetic field is adapted to the
milling spindle. Ultrasonic deburring of aluminum work parts was reported in . It was
found that the distance between the horn and the workpiece and size of abrasive are
the governing factors on ultrasonic deburring. A deburring method using enhanced
ultrasonic cavitation without abrasives was proposed in

Figure 11. A robot arm combined with deburring brush

Experimental results confirmed that enhanced cavitation bubbles can remove

the burrs on aluminum work parts. Micro burrs removal was presented in [35; 36].
The electrochemical deburring (ECD) can be used for deburring conductive metals of
any size or shape, including aluminum alloys [3]. This method is ideal when removal
of inaccessible burrs in aluminum work parts and generating the surfaces free of
scratch are demanded. However the ECD applied to aluminum alloys with high
silicon contents generate textured than smooth surface.
According to [3], thermal energy deburring (TEM) is used for deburring of
heat sinks made of aluminum alloys. This technique is also used for thick burrs
removal of thin components. Other methods such as electro polishing can be only
applied for small burrs removal. Polycarbonate shots are mainly used for deburring
aluminum machined parts, such as transmission parts, pistons and gears . One of the
major reported techniques for burr removal in aluminum machined part is mass
finishing. This approach includes vibratory finishing; barrel deburring, roll-flow
finishing, centrifugal barrel finishing and centrifugal disc finishing. The overview of

17
advantages and disadvantages of these methods.
Chapter 4
CONCLUSION

In this article, an overview of burr formation and deburring processes was

presented. The most highly used mechanical deburring processes on aluminum
works parts were introduced. Furthermore an insight into application of some other
deburring methods on aluminum alloys was presented. The knowledge of each
deburring method and the requirements of the finished products, in addition to burr
size are major parameters for correct selection of deburring method. Other important
parameters include the versatility, automation, precision cost of method and
production volume. Developing the links between burr sizes and deburring methods
would be beneficial for better selection of deburring methods. This sometimes
requires combination of several deburring process to gain better results. An adequate
selection of deburring process not only leads to better surface finish, but also reduces
the manufacturing cost and increases the production rate

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 Chapter 5
REFERENCES

[1] R.Narayanaswami,D. Dornfeld, Transactions of the North American

Manufacturing Research Institute of SME 1994. 22 (1994) 313-322.
[2] L.Gillespie,Manufacturing Engineering(USA) 116 (1996) 69-70.
[3] L. Gillespie, Deburring and edge finishing handbook, Society o
Manufacturing
Engineers (SME), Dearborn, MI ,USA, 1999.
[4] J.C. Aurich, D. Dornfeld, P.J. Arrazola, V. Franke, L. Leitz, S. Min, CIRP
Annals - Manufacturing Technology 58 (2009) 519- 542.
[5] S.A. Niknam, V. Songmene, Proceeding of the Institution of Mechanical
Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture, In press (2013).
[6] Y. Zedan, V. Songmene, J. Kouam, J. Masounave, International Journal of
Machining and Machinability of Materials 13 (2013) 231-252.
[7] F. Schäfer, Entgraten, Krausskopf, 1975.
[8] A. Rangarjan, Optimization of face milling process- Tool path and process
planning techniques, Ph.D Thesis, University of California at Brekeley, USA,
2005

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