A Trending Nonconventional Hybrid Finishing/Machining Process

Abstract

In today’s era of hybrid machining, there is a continuous demand of highly precise dimensional products. The hybrid machining processes are gaining interest for the researchers to have more efficient and productive part in the segments of electronics, automotive, and aerospace industries where high accuracy and surface quality are of great concern. Different hybrid machining processes are being used for different purposes to increase finishing till micro- and nano-levels. From the past years, conventional finishing processes such as grinding and honing are generally used to finish the surface of these components. But still more machining efficiency and cost reduction is still under play. These problems can be resolved using magnetorheological (MR) finishing processes. These processes use MR polishing fluids which behave like semisolid fluid under the magnetic field with controlled finishing forces. This chapter emphasizes on the capability of various magnetically assisted finishing processes for various internal and external surfaces with their mechanism of material removal. The MR abrasive flow finishing (MRAFF) process is investigated for the internal cylindrical finishing of non-ferromagnetic specimens. Also, rotational-MRAFF (R-MRAFF) process is slightly modified to increase the process performance and to raise the shearing tendency of the abrasive particles for enhancing the surface roughness. Further, a novel ball-end MR finishing (BEMRF) process is developed for finishing the 3-D surfaces through BEMRF tool. Lastly, magnetorheological honing (MRH) process has been discussed that focused on finishing the internal surface of ferromagnetic specimens. KeywordsHybrid machining; Magnetorheological finishing processes; Ferrous material; Magnetorheological honing process.