Surface work hardening is a process of deforming a material surface using a thin layer. It hardens and strengthens the surface while keeping the core relatively soft and ductile to absorb stresses. This study introduces a permanent magnate surface work hardening under two opposite permanent poles of a magnet to investigate its influence on a brass surface. The gap between the brass and the north magnet pole-fixed in the spindle of a vertical machine-was filled with martensitic stainless steel balls. The rotational speed and feed rates were 500-1250 rpm and 6-14 mm min-1, respectively. The novel method improved the surface hardness for all parameters by up to 112%, in favor of high speed, and also increased yield by approximately 10% compared to ground samples. Surface roughness showed higher values for all speed-feed rate combinations compared to the ground sample. Nevertheless, it showed better roughness than other treated conditions with high and low feed rates. The ultimate tensile strength and ductility remained unchanged for all conditions other than the untreated brass. A factorial design and nonlinear regression analysis were performed to predict the microhardness equation and effectiveness of the independent variable-speed and feed rate-for the proposed process.
Keywords: brass; martensitic stainless steel balls; microhardness; permanent magnets; surface work hardening.