Nanofinishing of stainless-steel tubes using Rotational Abrasive Finishing (RAF) process

Abstract

It is difficult to attain a desirable surface quality at nanoscale using traditional finishing methods. Therefore, novel and more advanced methods known as nano-finishing have been introduced to overcome this limitation. This study addresses the Rotational Abrasive Finishing (RAF) process, one of the newest advanced nano-finishing techniques that involves simultaneous rotation of the stirrer and workpiece in opposite directions. This process is intended for finishing the interior surface of workpieces with ultra-high precision. Speeds and forces involved in the RAF process along with effects of rotational speeds of stirrer, working gap, and mesh size of the abrasive particles on material removal (Δm), surface roughness (Ra), and change in surface roughness (ΔRa) were studied on a stainless steel workpiece. The results indicated that material removal and change in surface roughness increased due to increase in stirrer speed while increasing working gap and abrasive mesh size reduced Δm and ΔRa. Moreover, surface roughness was found to be reduced from micro- to nano-scale hence final surface roughness was 51 nm. Here by applying this new finishing method, the surface quality improvement was achieved by over 83%.