Abstract: “Belt finishing of hardened steel parts begins to integrate the automotive and the aeronautic industry as an alternative to classical superfinishing process. However his practice in industry is always uncertain because research in this topic is at the beginning. This paper is a contribution to the understanding of belt finishing mechanisms by using an experimental approach to study especially the effect of grain size on roughness and on specific energy. It was demonstrated that with the increase of grain size the roughness increases while the specific energy decreases. However the grain size must be chosen strictly to have a good surface topography. Moreover with small grains, friction and ploughing is larger than cutting and specific energy is very important. With large grains specific energy is small and spent essentially in cutting.”

Keywords: belt finishing, grain size, specific energy, abrasive belt, hardened steel