Experimental investigation and design optimisation for magnetic abrasive flow machining using response surface methodology

Abstract

The finishing of surfaces of some of the aerospace parts and medical equipments was required to be of the finest quality. This work described the finishing of micro holes of aluminium cylindrical tubular type work specimens by one of the non-traditional machining method of finishing, i.e., magnetic abrasive flow machining. The abrasive media used for finishing contains newly prepared diamond based bonded magnetic abrasives. These abrasives were prepared by mechanical alloying followed by annealing method. The performance of magnetic abrasive flow machining process was evaluated in terms of surface roughness improvement rate. The process variables were optimised by employing response surface methodology. The parameters which showed prominent effect on surface roughness improvement rate were extrusion pressure, magnetic flux density and number of cycles. It was found through the experiments that the optimum result was obtained when extrusion pressure was 800 psi, magnetic field density was 0.6, and number of cycles was 25, which depicts that surface roughness improvement rate after finishing was 72.72% (Ra 0.22 μm). The results were also confirmed by analysing through scanning electron microscopy.