Superfinishing

Grinding and Lapping has been the traditional final metal finishing operation performed on engineered metal-to-metal contact surfaces such as roller bearings, gears, crank and camshafts.
It results in a surface with a unidirectional ridged pattern that corresponds to the direction of the final grinding operation. In the past various ¡®rumbling¡¯ processes have been used to further reduce asperity peaks. These processes use an abrasive medium carried in a water-based liquid all contained in a vibrating bowl.
Using a different approach to super finishing, BV Products has developed a process it has called Isotropic Superfinish and Polishing or ISFP. The ISFP process is a chemically accelerated finishing process. It uses the same vibratory finishing equipment as the rumbling process but replaces the abrasive media with a high-density, non-abrasive media that in combination with specific chemicals ¡°weaken¡± or oxidize the tips of the asperities.
The process is not a polishing process but rather a controlled surface finishing process. The process is able to produces surface finishes of Ra 0.02 ?m or Rz 0.2.
Because asperities have been removed, parts that have been subjected to ISFP have an improved, highly random, metal-to-metal contact pattern and the final surface is smoother.
Among its many benefits, an ISFP surface reduces friction and wear, increases part durability, and improves corrosion resistance. The process has proven applications in many industries including aerospace, automotive, gearing & bearings, medical, military and has become the super finishing process of choice in all areas of the motorsports world.