The master's thesis describes three roughening processes used in the company to achieve higher quality aluminum castings. These processes are air blasting, electric arc wire metallization, and dip electro-erosion. The processes were compared through a cost analysis. The results of the cost analysis showed that air blasting is the most cost-effective among the mentioned processes. For this process, the effects of pressure, distance, and blasting time were determined using the Design of Experiments (DOE) method. The DOE method revealed that the roughness parameters Rz and Ra increase with higher blasting pressure and decrease with increased blasting distance. Subsequently, parameter optimization was performed for a maximum blasting pressure within a range of 3 bar to 7 bar, a fixed blasting distance of 10 cm, minimal blasting time, and a target roughness of Rz 35 μm. With the proposed optimal parameters, 10 confirmation tests were carried out, and confidence intervals were determined for the roughness parameters Rz and Ra. The work contributed to a better understanding of the roughening processes and the influence of blasting input parameters on the output parameters Rz and Ra.
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