Experimental investigations on a novel magnetic abrasive finishing setup using Taguchi method

Abstract

Surface finishing is generally the last but crucial operation on the manufactured product to ensure the functional and aesthetic requirements. The paper introduces a novel magnetic abrasive finishing setup for achieving surface roughness in the order of nanometer on SS304 material. In the proposed setup, only the ferromagnetic particles are used to form a ferromagnetic brush on the outer periphery of the disc magnet. The abrasive particles are supplied from an external source in the form of a suspension. The quantity of abrasive particles in the suspension and its flow rate may be varied, which additionally provides an option to vary the finishing rate. The suspension also provides a cooling provision to reduce the mild temperature effect. The experiments were performed based on Taguchi design of experiments L9 orthogonal array. The effect of input variables like rotational speed, working gap and quantity of abrasive particles in the suspension were analyzed. The responses were recorded in terms of change in surface roughness value and material removal. The most influencing parameter was found to be the working gap. The surface texture analysis of the finished surface shows that the scratching on the surface has no specific pattern, representing the true random behavior of finishing by the proposed setup.