When conventional part finishing techniques can no longer keep pace with quality standards, aerospace and defense manufacturers turn to MFI automated surface finishing systems. Our centrifugal barrel – our high-energy tumbler systems, in particular – ensure our customers’ parts meet the industry’s demanding standards for surface quality, dimensional accuracy and repeatability.
MFI high-energy finishing machines provide manufacturers a stable and repeatable part finishing process. They use the pressure and friction created through centrifugal force to quickly remove excess material and burrs, polish part surfaces and create a uniform finish within hours as opposed to days. Plus, they operate much quieter than vibratory-type tumblers. Our systems achieve finish results that are isotropic, meaning parts are polished uniformly and evenly in all directions, and are impossible to accomplish with hand finishing.
3D printed parts pose finishing challenges
An increasing number of aerospace and defense manufacturers are incorporating 3D metal printing, and despite the benefits of that additive process, many of those manufacturers fail to realize that finishing/polishing the resulting parts can pose significant hurdles. For starters, additive-produced part surfaces are extremely rough. Plus, they typically involve complex geometries and are manufactured from harder metals, like titanium, that are either impossible to finish using traditional manual methods or will require immense amounts of time to do so.
This is when additive parts manufacturers turn to MFI’s centrifugal barrel, high-energy tumbler systems. Not only do these machines reduce labor costs and production times, they also efficiently remove surface roughness and scale to consistently generate mirror-like finishes that meet part standards on multiple 3D printed metal parts simultaneously.
Surface stress and solutions
Besides achieving part surface finish requirements, aerospace and defense manufacturers rely on MFI finishing systems for surface stress relief and to identify flaws in 3D printed parts as well as other components such as jet engine blades. Depending on the additive technology used when developing parts, each newly deposited layer adds stress to the underlying material structure. Our high-energy finishing process relieves this built-up surface stress.
In addition to relieving surface stress, the MFI high-energy process reveals flaws that could compromise a part’s performance or lead to premature failure. If fractures are present, the tumbling action uncovers them. The same process is also used to repolish older parts such as turbine blades, helping extend their service life. Moreover, the ultra-smooth finishes produced by our systems contribute to improving engine fuel efficiency.
Media matters
Part materials and desired finishing results will dictate your specific media mix. At MFI, we provide a wide variety of finishing media materials – from synthetic materials like plastic and XM to natural materials like walnut shell and corn cob – so you can find the exact specifications you need. Our carefully curated selection of media ensures you get the right mix of media based on its composition, size, shape and performance to fully optimize your finishing process.
For common additive part materials such as titanium, aluminum and Inconel, MFI high-energy tumblers use ceramic, plastic and porcelain media in a variety of 3D shapes and size variations for the best finishing results. Conventional tumbling systems, like vibratory types, will use the same media mix but without high-energy finishing, making them ineffective for additive parts. This is because conventional systems typically generate only one G-force between the media and the part. Our high-energy systems, on the other hand, operate at over 12 G-force, and are superior for not only surface finishing tough additive-manufactured aerospace and defense parts but doing so in shorter cycle times.
As additive manufacturing possibilities increase for aerospace and defense manufacturers, so do finishing challenges. Increasingly, industry leaders are moving away from older, conventional methods like manual polishing, vibratory-based systems or chemical processes that corrode the surface prior to a finishing process. By selecting high-energy tumbler systems, manufacturers can polish batches of parts in a repeatable process that yields exponential benefits and is much faster.
Here at MFI, we’re always within reach so you can experience top-tier customer service, meet stringent part standards, and achieve the best possible parts finishing results. Send us your sample part, and we’ll test out various solutions in our sample processing lab to ensure a perfect match to your application. That match will then deliver the same proven results in your facility as it did in our laboratory testing.