Surface generation mechanism and efficiency improvement in ultrasonic vibration assisted belt flapwheel flexible polishing GH4169

The integral blisk is an important structure designed to meet the requirements of high-performance aero-engine, and the blade quality is one of the key factors affecting the service life of the integral blisk. To further improve the blade quality, ultrasonic vibration assisted belt flapwheel flexible polishing (UBFP) is proposed. In this paper, the surface generation mechanism and polishing efficiency of UBFP is studied. Based on kinematic models and simulations of multiple abrasive grains, the improvement effect of “peak clipping” on polished surface is explained. The surface integrity of GH4169 polished workpieces under UBFP and conventional belt flapwheel flexible polishing (BFP) are evaluated experimentally. The results show that ultrasonic vibration can effectively reduce surface roughness (13.26%) and increase residual stress (3.81%), but exhibits negligible impact on surface hardness. The surface roughness distribution on the polished surface under UBFP is more even than that under BFP. In addition, considering the reduction rate of surface roughness during the polishing process, the polishing efficiency of UBFP is 5.27% higher than that of BFP. Therefore, the UBFP process shows promising potential for blade polishing and green manufacturing of difficult machining materials.