Deburring and finishing glossary
Plain-language definitions for sheet metal finishing
- Burr
- A thin ridge of displaced metal left on an edge by cutting, punching or shearing. Removed with a deburring disc.
- Primary burr
- A burr that forms at the moment the sheet is cut, punched or sheared.
- Secondary burr
- A burr that forms during later processing, when material is pushed sideways instead of fully removed.
- Slag (dross)
- Hardened, re-solidified material stuck to the underside of a thermal cut, mostly from plasma and oxy-fuel cutting. Removed with a slag removal brush.
- Oxide
- A thin dark layer on the cut surface left by heat and oxygen. Cutting with oxygen as the assist gas leaves it on laser-cut edges. See oxide brushes and wheels.
- Heat tint
- Discoloration on metal, especially stainless, near a cut or weld caused by heat.
- Mill scale
- The scale layer on hot-rolled steel left from manufacturing.
- Deburring
- Removing burrs so no loose or projecting material remains on the edge.
- Edge rounding (edge radius)
- Shaping a clean edge into a small, consistent radius, which improves coating adhesion and handling safety. See edge rounding.
- Pre-grinding
- Leveling spatter, scale and primary burrs before deburring and finishing.
- Finish grinding
- The last stage, where the part picks up the surface it ships with.
- Directional (linear) grain
- A finish with a consistent line pattern, such as from a non-woven belt.
- Non-directional (matte) finish
- A uniform surface without a visible line pattern, such as from a non-woven disc.
- Non-woven abrasive
- A blended, fibrous abrasive that blends marks gently for satin and matte finishes. See non-woven discs and belts.
- Deburring disc
- A layered abrasive disc used on disc-style machines to deburr and round edges, in several performance levels.
- HERO discs
- A high-performance family of deburring discs with dense flaps, built for strong radii at high feed rates.
- Deslagging brush (pin brush)
- A brush with steel pins that strikes slag off the part.
- Pin hardness
- How firmly the pins in a slag brush strike. Hardness 1 is flexible and edge-friendly; Hardness 4 is extra-hard for heavy slag.
- Oxide brush
- A wire-fill brush in disc format that removes oxide on disc-style machines.
- Oxide wheel
- A spring-packed wheel that removes oxide on roller-style machines and follows the sheet contour.
- Felt polishing disc
- A felt disc used with polishing compound to take a surface toward a mirror finish.
