The machining operations that shape a metal component produce a raised edge or small pieces of material remaining attached to a work piece called burrs and sharp edges. The deburring process is intended to remove these imperfections and produce specific edge profiles.

Burr formation during machining operations is one of the most significant problems encountered by industrial companies in component manufacturing. Remaining burrs after machining pose a severe risk for component breakdowns, if the burrs get loose. All work piece edges must therefore be completely defect-free.

In the machining industry manual methods are commonly employed for burr removal. Fully automating deburring operations present a major challenge. Furthermore, removal of internal burrs of various sizes and shapes from parts sometimes becomes an extremely difficult task which causes high cost for labor, time losses, and health and safety risks.

Increasingly, manufacturers are expected to deliver burr-free parts to their customer. Sandvik Coromant, Scania and Volvo Cars are three of these manufacturers, and these three companies have agreed to contribute to this thesis.

Sandvik Coromant AB is part of the global enterprise Sandvik Group AB, and is world- leading in providing and developing cutting tools for the metal working industry. The company operates in over 60 countries worldwide and its main production plant is located in Gimo, Sweden [www.sandvik.com].

Scania is a global automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles—specifically heavy trucks and buses. It also manufactures diesel engines for motive power of heavy vehicles, marine, and general industrial applications. Scania was founded in 1891 in Södertälje, Sweden. Today, Scania has ten production facilities worldwide [www.scania.com].

Volvo Car Corporation is an automobile manufacturer founded in 1927, in Gothenburg, Sweden. Volvo Cars has approximately 2,300 local dealers and around 100 national sales companies worldwide. Volvo Car Engine is a part of Volvo Cars. Volvo Car Engine produces engines and other components for other units, and it is headquartered in Skövde, Sweden [www.volvocars.com].

All of the companies above have problems in burr minimizing and removing strategy in machining and deburring operations to achieve quality assurance. Therefore, to choose a deburring system, and to reveal the results of deburring operations, it is necessary to be able to inspect/measure burrs. But, unfortunately, most industrial companies today lack the specialized systems to measure the presence of burrs, which adversely affect the overall deburring process. In this thesis, different types and sizes of work pieces have been taken directly from the production to measure burrs, and conduct experiments on them.

The thesis focuses on three areas:

• A survey of the current deburring problems, including burr classification and measurement, current minimization strategies of burr formation, and current deburring methods.
• Experiments on new and improved deburring methods, including deburring tools (e.g. drilling deburring tools, countersink tools, grinding tools and alumina fiber brushes), water-jet deburring (multi-nozzle rotary lance jets, pure and abrasive single rotary nozzle water jets).
• A selection matrix as a thesis conclusion which relates these methods to criteria of deburring processes, such as process performance, industrial applications, quality assurance, safety and environment, costs, etc. This matrix can be a basis for a more detailed selection/decision matrix in the future.