An Approach to the Influence of Flotative Abrasive Balls on Polishing Process

Abstract

Polishing with Flotative Abrasive Balls(FABs) is a kind of soft contact polishing means， and the conventional polishing plate and pad are not needed in this case. The pressure of polishing is the flotage which is the upward force that a fluid exerts on the FABs, but the movement of work piece is similar to that in conventional polishing, the removal rate and quality of polishing is influenced by FAB and its flotage. An experiment device is built up and two kinds of FAB are designed and produced. Some primary experiments are carried out in order to investigate the influences of the size of FABs on the removal rate and surface roughness in polishing with FABs. It is found from the experiments that the grain size and the layers of FAB may have great influence on the removal rate of polishing; the surface roughness is mainly decided by the ball diameter and the layers of FAB. The results of experiments are discussed and analyzed, it indicates that the efficiency and quality depend on flotage and the number of active grains when the velocity of workpiece is assigned.