Mechanism of Material Removal in Magneto Abrasive Flow Machining

Abstract

The material removal in finishing of precision parts and hard to reach regions comprises a standout amongst the most demanding and costly stages in a manufacturing process. The magnetic abrasive flow machining (MAFM) is one of the non-traditional machining techniques which can successfully manage these problems. The MAFM process provides excellent surface finish at comparative low cost. The objective of the present investigation has been to understand the mechanism of the material removal (MR) and roughness improvement rate (RIR) in MAFM on a non-magnetic, soft and ductile workpiece. Finishing fluid in this study contains iron particles as magnetic bonders and diamond particles as abrasive part in different mesh size. Experimentation was conducted on aluminum tubes to investigate the effect of the key parameters on the MR and RIR and was designed in central composite design (CCD) of response surface methodology (RSM). It has been found that magnetic flux density (MFD) and number of cycles have impact on material removal and surface roughness. Based on experimental results, regression analysis of MR and RIR has been performed. This analysis has been used to predict MR and RIR compared with the experimentally obtained results. Both were found in close agreement. Finished surfaces were also examined using the scanning electron microscope (SEM) to get the knowledge for the fine surface texture produced by MAFM.