Tumble Polishing

Tumble finishing, also known as tumbling or rumbling, is a process where the parts to be finished are placed in a container and rolled or vibrated so that they rub against each other and/or some sort of abrasive or polishing media.

Stone
For tumbling of rocks as a lapidary technique, a plastic or rubber-lined barrel is loaded with a consignment of rocks, all of similar or the same hardness, some abrasive grit, and a liquid lubricant. Silicon carbide grit is commonly used, and water is a universal lubricant. The barrel is then placed upon slowly rotating rails so that it rotates. The optimal speed of rotation depends on the size of the tumbler barrel and materials involved. A well-chosen speed for stone polishing causes the rocks within the barrel to slide past each other, with the abrasive grit between them. The result of this depends on the coarseness of the abrasive, and the duration of the tumble.

A typical rock tumbler Typically, a full tumble polish from rough rock to polish takes between 35 weeks, and is done in a minimum of 3 steps. Initially, the rocks are smoothed with a coarse grit (such as 60-90 mesh). This is followed by washing and then a stage of finer grits (120-220 then 400-600 mesh), before the (optional) use of a pre-polishing compound (1200 grit), a washing cycle with detergent to remove any grit on the stones. The final step is a polishing stage using powdered polish, (such as cerium oxide or tin oxide), water, and often small plastic pellets that are designed to cushion the stones as they tumble (so as not to cause chipping) and carry the polish evenly across the stones. The precise tumbling time is determined by many factors, including the hardness of the rock and the degree of smoothing desired in the coarser steps. Some people will tumble stones with rough grit for two, three or even four weeks to get their desired shapes out of the stones. Sometimes, stone "preforms" are used. This refers to cutting shapes from the rough rock, before tumbling. This gives more control over the final piece, so shapes such as a tear drop can be produced. The technique is still limited to rounded shapes. Preforms may use less time with the

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coarsest step, or skip it altogether. During the 1970s, small rock tumblers were a common hobby item, and jewelry decorated with tumbled semi-precious stones was very much in fashion. Likewise, dishes and decorative glass jars filled with tumbled stones (often including common rocks not suitable even for costume jewelry) were frequently used as household ornaments.

How to tumble polish stones?

The tumbling of stones has been going on in Nature for tons of time, as anyone who has picked up a smooth and rounded stone from a beach can testify. This process in Nature is the same that man uses today to tumble polish gemstones: rubbing one stone against another in an abrasive substance, and generally in water. Man carries the process a step furtheruses machines (tumblers) to achieve a high polish on his gemstones. Tumblers can come in several kinds and dozens of shapes and sizes, as described on the following page. All use the basic process of grinding, sanding, and polishing stones through movement in a series of abrasives from coarse to fine. The steps in tumbling vary from the use of an extremely fine polishing material for only a few hours to put a final polish on a valuable gemstone, to the general sequence of coarse grit (60/90) silicon carbide through three, four or more polishing abrasives in subsequently finer grit, to the final polishing step. This can take from a few days to four to six weeks. Most stones with a hardness of 5 to 7 1/2 on the Moh scale will tumble polish well. Softer and harder stones may still polish, but may require more or special steps and abrasives to achieve a satisfactory polish. Some stones will never polish no matter what you do to them. Tumble polishing stones is an easy and great way to start kids (and adults) on a lifelong interest in the natural world around them. Finding your own rocks and turning them into shining marvels of Nature is a rewarding experience.

Specific types
Barrel burnishing is a type of barreling where no cutting action is desired. The goal is to reduce minute irregularities and produce a clean, smooth surface. The parts are usually tumbled against themselves or with steel balls, shot, rounded-end pin to achieve this. It is also usually a wet process that uses water and a lubricant or cleaning agent, such as soap or cream of tartar. The barrel is not loaded more than half full and if media is used then a 2:1 ratio of media to parts is maintained to keep the parts from rubbing.[3] Centrifugal barrel tumbling uses a tumbling barrel at the end of a rotating arm to add centrifugal forces to the barreling process. This can accelerate the process 25 to 50 times. Spindle finishing mounts the work pieces onto spindles that rotate the parts opposite that of the media flow. This prevents the parts from interacting with each other and accelerates the cycle time, but extra time and cost are required to fixture the work pieces.

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Precipitation Hardening
Precipitation hardening, also called age hardening, is a heat treatment technique used to strengthen malleable materials. It relies on changes in solid solubility with temperature to produce fine particles of an impurity phase, which impede the movement of dislocations, or defects in a crystal's lattice. Since dislocations are often the dominant carriers of plasticity, this serves to harden the material. Unlike ordinary tempering, alloys must be kept at elevated temperature for hours to allow precipitation to take place. This time delay is called ageing.

history
The fundamental under-standing and basis for this technique was established in early work at the U.S. Bureau of Standards on an alloy known as Duralumin. (Duralumin is an aluminum alloy containing copper and magnesium with small amounts of iron and silicon). In an attempt to understand the dramatic strengthening of this alloy, Paul D. Merica and his co-workers studied both the effect of various heat treatments on the hardness of the alloy and the influence of chemical composition on the hardness. Among the most significant of their findings was the observation that the solubility of CuAl2 in aluminum increased with increasing temperature. Although the specific phases responsible for the hardening turned out to be too small to be observed directly, optical examination of the microstructures provided an identification of several of the other phases that were present. The principle features of their theory are as follows: 1. Age-hardening is possible because of the solubility-temperature relation of the hardening constituent in aluminum. 2. The hardening constituent is CuAl2. 3. Hardening is caused by precipitation of the constituent in some form other than that of atomic dispersion, and probably in fine molecular, colloidal or crystalline form. 4. The hardening effect of CuAl2 in aluminum was deemed to be related to its particle size.

Examples and Discussion

Precipitation hardening aluminum alloys Precipitation hardening is often employed in Aluminum alloys to improve the mechanical properties, such as strength and hardness. This change in properties is the result of the formation of finely dispersed second phase particles in the alloy. These particles induce lattice strain in the Aluminum matrix that restricts dislocation flow. The material is then heated again to a temperature below the solvus temperature and held for some

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amount of time. This temperature is known as the age hardening temperature. The purpose of heating the alloy again to decrease the time needed to age the material. Examples include 2000-series aluminum alloys (like 2024 and 2019), 6000-series aluminum alloys and 7000-series aluminum alloys (like 7075 and 7475).

Work Hardening
what is work hardening?
Work hardening is when a metal is strained beyond the yield point. An increasing stress is required to produce additional plastic deformation and the metal apparently becomes stronger and more difficult to deform. If true stress is plotted against true strain, the rate of strain hardening tends to become almost uniform, that is, the curve becomes almost a straight line, as shown in Figure 1(Nominal Stress-Strain Curve vs. True Stress-Strain Curve). The gradient of the straight part of the line is known as the strain hardening coefficient or work hardening coefficient, and is closely related to the shear modulus (about proportional). Therefore, a metal with a high shear modulus will have a high strain or work hardening coefficient (for example, molybdenum). Grain size will also influence strain hardening. A material with small grain size will strain harden more rapidly than the same material with a larger grain size. However, the effect only applies in the early stages of plastic deformation, and the influence disappears as the structure deforms and grain structure breaks down.

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Work hardening is closely related to fatigue. In the example given on fatigue here at Engineers Edge within the "Fatigue page", bending the thin steel rod becomes more difficult the farther the rod is bent. This is the result of work or strain hardening. Work hardening reduces ductility, which increases the chances of brittle failure.

Work hardening can also be used to treat material. Prior work hardening (cold working) causes the treated material to have an apparently higher yield stress. Therefore, the metal is strengthened.

Case Hardening

what is Case hardening?

Case hardening is a process that is used to harden the outer layer of case hardening steel while maintaining a soft inner metal core. The case hardening process uses case hardening compounds for the carbon addition. Steel case hardening depth depends upon the application of case hardening depth. Case hardening is a technique in which the metal surface is reinforced by the adding of a fine layer at the top of another metal alloy that is generally more durable. Case hardening steel is normally used to increase the object life. This is particularly significant for the manufacture of machine parts, carbon steel forgings, and carbon steel pinions. Case hardening is also utilized for other applications. Case hardening is also called surface hardening. Case hardening has been in use for many centuries, and was frequently used for producing horseshoes

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and different kinds of cooking utensils that were subjected to substantial wear and tear. Case hardening is essentially a group of processes that are used to increase the surface hardness to an extent that is higher than that of the bulk material. Case hardening is performed normally locally on the top surface, and for a limited depth. Greater hardness is usually related with better wear and fatigue resistance.

Case Hardening Process

The addition of carbon to the iron surfaces is common. Case hardening involves the use of metal that has low carbon contents, and combining it with a metal that has more carbon content. The grouping of metals is likely to produce the product that is much harder. The adding of the low carbon metal creates a material that can be molded easily into the desired shapes. The surface improvement not only increases the product strength, but also assists to avoid the iron weakening. Consequently, items like fireplace equipment, cast iron wash pan, and frying utensils would continue to be serviceable for long periods of time. Case hardening is frequently utilized in the constructing industry for reinforcing girders, metal doors, and metal panels. Case hardening is generally performed after the formation of the component into its ultimate form.

Applications
Components that are subjected to severe impacts and high pressures are generally case hardened. The surfaces that need special hardness may be selectively hardened, without performing case hardening of the remaining object. Firearms are a usual item that is case hardened, as they need accuracy in machining and higher hardness for performing the desired functions. Another general application of the case hardening is on camshafts and special purpose screws, mainly the self drilling screws. Case hardening is less complex for fasteners and screws since it is performed simply by heating and quenching. Case hardening of smaller items is performed by repetitive heat application.

Steel Case Hardening

Carbon is penetrated into the metal skin to create mild steel that has an external covering with more carbon than the nucleus. The mild steel is subjected to heating at a particular temperature, till it is bright red. While the mild steel is soft, it is immersed into a carbon compound that covers the outer surface. One dipping may not be adequate, and several re-heating and dipping may be necessary. This procedure will produce a skin that is rich in carbon. Subsequently, the metal is reheated and dropped in water for hardening. Case hardening is useful for objects that need to be hardened externally to endure wear and tear, but soft internally to withstand shock.

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