Toolpath generation and finishing of bio-titanium alloy using novel polishing tool in MFAF process

Abstract

Nanofinishing of biomaterials is a necessary process to lengthen the prosthetic life and performance. Here, Magnetic Field Assisted Finishing (MFAF) process is used to finish biomaterials in the nanometer level. MFAF process uses Magnetorheological (MR) fluid mixed with abrasive particles as the polishing medium. In this study, titanium is used as the workpiece material. A specially designed tool is used to carry out the nanofinishing process. Two types of path planning i.e. parallel and spiral tool path are adopted during finishing. The surface roughness and surface texture differ for each generated tool path. The surface roughness generated from each of the path planning processes is analyzed and it is found that parallel toolpath generates lowest surface roughness (~10 nm) with better surface texture than spiral toolpath. Hence, the parallel toolpath is considered as the optimum toolpath for finishing biomaterials in MFAF process. Experimental investigations using parallel tool path are carried out to explore the capability of the developed novel tool along with the determination of the optimum range of the process parameters to explore finishing capability. Preliminary experimental study shows that best surface finish and surface topography is achieved using 1200 rpm tool rotational speed, 1 mm working gap, and 6.30 h. finishing time.