Introduction to Mass Finishing Glossary
We will explain the term in this "Introduction to Mass Finishing", and Mass Finishing term that is used in the test reports provided by our engineers.
A row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Abrasive | Abrasive sometimes refers to abrasive media or abrasive grain, or a generic terms for both of these. |
| Abrasive Grain | This is mixed into abrasive media as the cutting edge to finish workpieces. |
| Abrasive Media | This is used for grinding and deburring workpieces. Abrasive media includes vitrified media, alumina media, plastic media, organic media, and metallic media. |
| Alundum | A type of abrasive material. Its main component is alumina, and it is used for iron and steel. |
| Auxiliary Weight | This is the weight attached to the basic weight of a vibratory barrel motor to adjust the excitation force. |
B row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Ball Burnishing | This is one method of luster finishing. A steel ball is brought into contact with the surface of a workpiece to produce a luster finish. |
| Barrel | In the old days, wooden barrels were used. At present, exclusive containers with a rubber or urethane inner lining are used. This is why this term continues to be used at present, too. |
| Batch Processing | The loading of workpieces into the barrel tub and processing for a fixed period of time. The opposite word is "takt processing." |
| Binder | Binder binds abrasive grain together to form abrasive media. |
| Bond | This binds abrasive grains to form abrasive media. |
C row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Carborundum | A type of abrasive material. Its main component is silicon carbide, and it is used for hardened steel and alloy steel. |
| Charging Amount | This is the ratio of mass amount to barrel tub volume when mass, the abrasive media and workpiece mix, is loaded into the barrel tub. This ratio is indicated by a percentage. |
| Chipping | This is the chipping of edges when hard and brittle materials such as tiles or ceramics are finished. |
| Chipping and Cracking | This is the chipping that occurs on the edges of workpieces and abrasive media and cracking that occurs partially. |
| Compound | Compounds are detergents for mass finishing and they perform, for example, the cleaning of workpieces and abrasive media. |
| Cycle time | The time taken to execute a single finishing process. As for brushing, this is the time required to finish a single workpiece. |
D row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Deburring | The removal of unwanted projections that occur on the edges of workpieces during cutting work or press working. |
| Degreasing | The removal of oil that sticks during cutting work or press working before mass finishing. |
| Difference of Rrelative Movement | This is the difference in the amount of movement that occurs due to friction between workpieces and abrasive media as a result of differences in weight and shape. |
| Dry Type | A type of finishing that does not use water. When abrasive media for wet type use is used in dry finishing, lodging occurs and finishing no longer is possible. |
F row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| F Value | This is the centrifugal force that is generated by rotation of the turret at the centrifugal barrel or the motor at the vibratory barrel. |
| Final Finishing | The process of turning a finished surface to a flat and clean surface. |
| Fine Finishing | Its surface roughness must be Ra 0.3 μm or less. |
| Firing | This is the molding and heating of powder which is then shrunk and densified and then turned into a sintered body having a fixed shape and strength. This is the firing and hardening of vitrified media. |
| Flap | This is the elevating/lowering plate for raising the mass to above the separation screen on our vibratory barrel CCL model. |
| Flow/Sliding Layer | Flow in which mass travels inside the barrel tub. When mass flows inside a barrel tub, a layer having a certain thickness is formed on the surface of the mass. In particular, this layer is called the "sliding layer." On mass finishing machines other than a vibratory barrel, this sliding layer causes a difference in relative movement between the workpieces and the abrasive media, and this results in surface finishing. As the entire mass vibrates even though the vibratory barrel also causes flow, it can be said that the mass itself that vibrates is the sliding layer. |
G row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Grain Size | This is the size of abrasive grains. This is indicated by the number of "sieve openings" per inch. It is referred to by # (number). #20 (0.7 to 1.4) mm #220 (0.03 to 0.088) mm #2000 (0.007 to 0.009) mm |
| Green Carborundum | A type of abrasive material. Its main component is silicon carbide, and it is used for hardened steel and alloy steel. |
| Grinding Amount | This is the amount of decrease by subtracting the workpiece weight after finishing from the workpiece weight before finishing. |
H row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Heavy Cutting | This kind of rough finishing involves high grinding amount. |
| Height to Mass Surface | This is used for measuring water amount . Height to the surface of the settled mass in the barrel tub. When water is charged into the barrel tub, this is referred to, for example, as "20 mm above surface of mass." |
| Hi-gravitational Barrel | This is an original finishing machine developed by us. Just as in centrifugal barrels, the barrel tub rotates and revolves. Although this barrel has a centrifugal force of 2 to 4 times that of centrifugal barrels, its rotation speed is slower by 1/10 to 1/2. |
I row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Impingement | A scratch that is formed by workpieces hitting against each other during mass finishing. |
| Impressions | These are the dents impressed into the surface of the workpiece caused by abrasive media hitting hard during mass finishing. |
L row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Lead Time | The time taken from start up to completion of mass finishing or other work. The time taken up to when the product is finally made. |
| Lining | The rubber or urethane lining coated on the inner wall of the barrel tub for protecting the inner wall of the barrel tub and preventing workpieces from being damaged. |
| Loading | The phenomenon where abrasive media is caught in the pores or clearances of workpieces and cannot be removed. |
| Lodging | This is the phenomenon of wear debris clogging the pores on the surface of the abrasive media which impairs the finishing effectiveness of the media. |
| Luster Finishing | This is the finishing of a workpiece so that its surface is highly smooth and glossy. Normally, to produce a good gloss, the surface of a workpiece will not be finished to a good gloss unless a smooth surface is produced. |
M row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Mass | The general term given to the mass of abrasive media and workpieces that is loaded in the barrel tub. |
| Mass Finishing | A processing method where workpieces, loose abrasive media, water and compound are loaded into a barrel tub which is then rotated or vibrated to cause a difference in relative movement between the workpieces and abrasive media and finish the surface of the workpieces. It is translated by " Mass Finish" in English. |
| Material | A workpiece before mass finishing. This also refers to the surface of the material before finishing. |
| Media | This is used for grinding and deburring workpieces. Abrasive media includes vitrified media, alumina media, plastic media, organic media, and metallic media. |
| Medium Finishing | The process of making a polished surface flat. Medium finishing has a surface roughness of Ra 0.3 μm to Ra 1 μm. |
| Mesh | This is the size of abrasive grains. This is indicated by the number of "sieve openings" per inch. It is referred to by # (number). #20 (0.7 to 1.4) mm #220 (0.03 to 0.088) mm #2000 (0.007 to 0.009) mm |
| Micro-cutting | In spite of the small grinding amount, the surface roughness of a workpiece is made finer and the surface is given a luster finish. |
| Mighty Mild | The product name of the hi-gravitational barrel finishing machine. A registered trademark of us. |
| Mirror Finishing | Mirror finishing produces a highly smooth surface that reflects objects like a mirror. Its surface roughness must be Ra 0.1 μm or less. |
| Mixing Ratio | Volumetric ratio between workpiece and abrasive media. For example, the mixing ratio of the workpiece to abrasive media of 1:3 means that the volume of abrasive media is 3 times that of the workpiece. In other words, the volume of the workpiece is 1/4 of the mass volume. To convert the number of workpieces to a volume, put workpieces randomly into a weighing container and try counting them. This is how the number is checked as workpieces are not neatly lined up in a barrel tub. |
O row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Opposite Side Distance | This is the distance between the inner walls of the barrel tub. Choose a size of abrasion media that is 1/8 or less of the opposite side distance of the barrel tub. |
| Organic Media | This abrasive media is formed by using corn or walnut as the base materials and coating abrasive grain onto the surface of these pieces with wax. |
P row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Peen Hardening | Shot-blasting the surface of a workpiece can harden its surface and increase its fatigue strength. The same effect can be obtained in mass finishing. |
| Peripheral Speed/Peripheral Speed Value |
This is the distance that a disk advances per unit time at a certain radius position. Display unit is in m/min. These terms are often used to express the capability of centrifugal disc finishing machines and Gyro finishing machines. |
| Planetary Motion | The simultaneous rotation and revolution of barrel tubs on centrifugal barrels and hi-gravitational barrels. |
R row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Radiusing | This refers to rounding the edges of a workpiece. Display unit is in mm (millimeters). |
| Rough Finishing | Finishing that involves a high grinding amount to make a rough surface. Rough finishing has a surface roughness of Ra 1 μm or more. |
| Rust Inhibiting | The treatment of a workpiece to prevent rust from forming. One water soluble rust inhibitor is TH-BII. |
S row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Scale | This is the oxide film that is formed when iron and steel is heat-treated. |
| Secondary Burr | This is the remainder of soft burrs after soft metal deburring operation. Secondary burring is less likely to occur when plastic media is used. |
| Self-tumbling | The surface of new abrasive media is rough and has burrs so that it is loaded into mass finishing machine and chamfered and smoothed before mass finishing use. Self-tumbling should be performed, in particular, for abrasive media for luster finishing until it has a shiny surface. Finishing of only workpieces also is referred to as "Self-tumbling." |
| Separation | This is separation of mass into abrasive media and workpieces. There are three types of separators: vibratory separator, magnetic separator and tilting feeder separator. |
| Sintering | This is the heating of powder to melting point or below or to partial melting to turn the powder into a firm bonded body. |
| Smoothing | This refers to grinding off the micro projections that are formed in the uneven surface of a workpiece to make the surface smooth. |
| Smut | This is the black film-like dirt that is formed on the surface of iron and steel or stainless steel workpieces after mass finishing. This can be removed by wiping, but it can almost be solved by selection of the appropriate compound. |
| Surface Roughness | The degree of microscopic unevenness on the surface of workpiece. Display unit is in μm (micrometers). The parameters for surface roughness are stipulated in JIS standards. |
T row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Takt Processing | The continuous processing of one workpiece at a time using our vibratory mass finishing machine CWS, gyro finishing machines or brushing machines, for example. The opposite term for this is "batch processing." |
| Tap Density | The specific gravity when a weighing container is filled with abrasive media. This is indicated by kg/liter. The approximate tap densities of each abrasive media are as follows: Vitrified Media: 1.5 to 1.8 Alumina Media :2.2 Plastic Media: 1.0 to 1.4 Metallic Media: 5.0 Organic Media: 0.7 |
| Turret | A barrel tub is located on the periphery of rotating turret on centrifugal barrels and hi-gravitational barrels and revolves around the turret. |
U row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Unbalanced Weights | These are weights attached above and below the motor shaft of the vibratory barrel. The motor is run with these weights misaligned to produce vibration. |
| Uras Motor | This motor is used on VS (Vibration Separators) as the source of vibration. |
V row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Vitrified Media | A clay-based binder (feldspar, silica, clay). Vitrified media is the most frequently among abrasive media. |
W row
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Water displacement rust inhibitor | This is the formation of a thin oil film on the surface of workpieces caused by the replacement of water to the film to treat workpieces still wet with water upon rust inhibition processing of workpieces. One water displacement rust inhibitor is TH-RIII. |
| Wear Amount | This is the amount that abrasive media wears down due to mass finishing. |
| Wet Type | Normally, in mass finishing, water is used to finish workpieces, so this is called wet finish. |
| White Alundum | A type of abrasive material. Its main component is alumina, and it is used for hardened steel and alloy steel. |
| Work | This is same as workpiece. |
