Abstract
Thermal spray coatings produced from hard materials show good potential for extending the service life of sheet metal forming tools. However, post-process methods currently used to improve coating surface quality are slow and expensive, especially on complex surfaces. A novel approach, demonstrated in this study, is the optimization of thermally sprayed coatings by roller burnishing. This process shows a high potential to not only reduce surface roughness and porosity, but also increase hardness even on free-formed surfaces. In the experiments, atmospheric plasma-sprayed CrC-NiCr coatings were produced and the burnishing process was performed on a CNC milling machine. Both the spraying and surface finishing processes are described and the results are presented and discussed.
