Title: A novel nanofinishing process using magnetorheological abrasive polishing fluid

Authors: Sunil Jha, Vijay Kumar Jain

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, IIT Delhi, Delhi 110016, India. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, UP, India

Abstract: Magnetorheological Abrasive Flow Finishing (MRAFF) is developed for finishing complex internal geometries up to nanometer level using Magnetorheological polishing (MRP) fluid which comprises of MR-fluid with fine abrasive particles dispersed in it. Experiments were conducted on stainless steel and silicon nitride workpieces using silicon carbide, boron carbide and diamond abrasives. The best surface finish obtained on the stainless steel workpieces with the present set-up configuration is 30 nm. The effect of number of finishing cycles, extrusion pressure and magnetic flux density is studied on change in surface roughness (Ra) value. Capillary magnetorheometer is designed and fabricated for rheological characterisation of MR-polishing fluid. Bingham plastic, Herschel Bulkley and Casson|s fluid model are used to fit the obtained data points.

Keywords: magnetorheology; abrasive flow finishing; nanofinishing; magnetic field assisted finishing; nanotechnology; magnetorheological polishing; stainless steel; silicon nitride; boron carbide; diamond abrasives; finishing cycles; extrusion pressure; magnetic flux density; surface roughness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2010.034282

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2010 Vol.21 No.1/2, pp.4 - 16

Published online: 31 Jul 2010 *

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