Abstract: A device for electromechanically assisted roller burnishing (EMRB) may comprise: a roller burnishing tool with exactly one current-leading roller burnishing element for burnishing a workpiece, wherein the roller burnishing element represents a first electrical contact element for electrically contacting first location of the workpiece, and a second electrical contact element for electrically contacting second location of the workpiece; wherein the first and the second electrical contact elements can be positioned at a settable spatial distance to one another, so that on moving the roller burnishing element on the workpiece, a current path in the workpiece between the first and the second contact elements is always a constant length.

Abstract: The invention relates to a device and method for electromechanically roller burnishing a surface of a workpiece, in which precisely one current-guiding roller burnishing element for roller burnishing and one separate electrical contact element are used and, as the roller burnishing element is moved on the workpiece surface, said electrical contact element is guided thereafter such that a current path of a constant length is directed through the workpiece as roller burnishing takes place. The invention allows, in a cost-effective manner, a high surface quality to be achieved as well as a precisely-adjustable microstructural alteration to the upper layers of the workpiece.