Metastable austenitic stainless steel tool for magnetic abrasive finishing

Through selective heat treatment, a metastable austenitic stainless steel tool can be fabricated to exhibit alternating magnetic and nonmagnetic regions. Magnetic abrasive is attracted to the borders of the magnetic regions of the developed tool to create additional finishing points. In combination with a multiple pole-tip system, this unique magnetic property facilitates simultaneous finishing of multiple regions for shortening finishing time. This paper describes the fabrication, the crystalline structure, and the resulting magnetic properties of the heat-treated tool. The magnetic abrasive behavior, the finishing characteristics, and a mechanism to extend the finished length are clarified for internal finishing flexible capillaries. (C) 2011 CIRP.