Effect of carbon nano tube (CNT) particles in magnetic abrasive finishing of Mg alloy bars

The Magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) process is a surface finishing technique in which a magnetic field is used to control abrasive particles during surface finishing of a material. Because smooth surfaces are required for general use, the magnetic abrasive finishing process was developed for finishing surfaces. We studied the effect of CNT particles on the surface roughness of a workpiece. Magnesium alloy bars were used as the cylindrical workpiece and were finished using an MAF process at high workpiece revolution speeds of 1000, 5000, 10000 and 25000 rpm; diamond pastes with diameters of 0.5, 1, and 3 mu m were used for comparison. The best value for surface roughness was equivalent to treatment at 0.02 mu m when 0.01 g of CNT particles was mixed together with the unbonded magnetic abrasive at 25000 rpm for 20 seconds. CNT particles were applied to the finishing process to improve the surface roughness of the material, because they have many advantageous properties such as very high strength, light weight, elasticity, and high thermal and air stability. CNT particles are particularly effective for the improvement of Mg alloy bar surface roughness in the MAF process.