Modeling and simulation of surface roughness in magnetorheological abrasive flow finishing (MRAFF) process

Magnetorheological abrasive flow finishing (MRAFF) process was developed for super finishing of internal geometries of hard materials. This process relies for its performance on magnetorheological effect exhibited by carbonyl iron particles along with abrasive particles in non-magnetic viscoplastic base medium. The extent of finishing action depends on radial and tangential forces coming on abrasive particles due to carbonyl iron particles (CIPs) arranged in columnar structure in the presence of external magnetic field. Experiments were conducted on stainless steel work pieces with different combinations of CIP and SiC particles in MRP-fluid for same volume concentration. CIP chain structure and surface roughness evaluation model have been proposed. Magnitudes of the forces on abrasive particles were then calculated and change in surface roughness was computed using the model developed to simulate final surface roughness. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.