Study on cylindrical magnetic abrasive finishing using unbonded magnetic abrasives

The process principle and the Finishing characteristics of unbonded magnetic abrasive within cylindrical magnetic abrasive finishing are described in this study. The unbonded magnetic abrasive is a mechanical mixture of SiC abrasive and ferromagnetic particles with a SAE30 lubricant. Iron grit and steel grit, for which three various particle sizes were prepared for both, were used as ferromagnetic particles, each of them being mixed with 1.2 and 5.5 mum SiC abrasive, respectively. Also, the finishing characteristics on surface roughness and material removal as well as their mechanisms were investigated. Experimental results indicate that steel grit is more suitable for magnetic abrasive finishing because of its superior hardness and the polyhedron shape. The variations of material characteristics on the work surface both before and after finishing were also investigated. Si content was increased obviously, however its corrosion resistibility decreased on a surface that was finished via steel grit mixed with SiC abrasive. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.