Study of magnetic abrasive finishing in free-form surface operations using the Taguchi method

This study employed magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) to conduct free-form surface abrasion of stainless SUS304 material operations. The operations were demonstrated using a permanent magnetic finishing mechanism installed at the CNC machining center. The operations were performed using the Taguchi experimental design, considering the effects of magnetic field, spindle revolution, feed rate, working gap, abrasive, and lubricant. Furthermore, the experimental data was collected using the Taguchi experimental design. The optimal parametric conditions for processing stainless SUS304 material were applied in a two-stage process comprised of rough finishing that involved MAF followed by a precise finishing of the surface. Prior to rough finishing, the R-max value was 2.670 mu m; after rough finishing, the value was 0.158 mu m. Precise finishing yields an even lower value of 0.102 mu m similar to that of the mirror surface. Therefore, the results revealed that MAF provides a highly efficient way of obtaining surface finish.