Feasibility study on fluid jet polishing of structured surfaces

Abstract

A generic, cost-effective and high accuracy structured surface polishing process is needed to meet the increasing demand of precision components with structured surface. Low pressure fluid jet polishing (FJP) was innovatively proposed to polish the structured surface. Feasibility study were carried out on the polishing of sinusoidal structure surface made of S136 mold steel, which was pre-machined by wire electrical discharge machining. The surface topography, surface roughness, and surface form before and after polishing were compared. Highly smooth surface was obtained after polishing, and the surface roughness was improved by over 96%, while the form deviation before and after polishing was only ~3.7%, which proves the feasibility of the FJP on structured surface.