Title: A material removal and surface roughness evolution model for loose abrasive polishing of free form surfaces

Authors: Stephen Wan; Yuchan Liu; Keng Soon Woon; Guan Leong Tnay

Addresses: Institute of High Performance Computing, 1 Fusionolopolis Way, #16-#16 Connexis, 138632, Singapore ' Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 71 Nanyang Drive, 638075, Singapore ' Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 71 Nanyang Drive, 638075, Singapore ' Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology, 71 Nanyang Drive, 638075, Singapore

Abstract: We report on the development of a simple process model, motivated by a need to predict the evolution of surface roughness and geometrical change over external, three dimensional free form surfaces undergoing a loose abrasive polishing process. To this end, the process model was derived from tribological wear laws and cast in terms of the point sliding velocity and apparent pressure and then benchmarked against data drawn from experiments in three disparate loose abrasive finishing techniques, namely, vibratory finishing, abrasive flow machining and magnetorheological finishing. We conclude with a brief discussion on the potential and limitations of the model in analysing loose abrasive finishing processes.

Keywords: freeform surfaces; loose abrasive processes; material removal; surface roughness; process modelling; surface quality; tribological wear; point sliding velocity; apparent pressure; vibratory finishing; abrasive flow machining; AFM; magnetorheological finishing.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAT.2014.065828

International Journal of Abrasive Technology, 2014 Vol.6 No.4, pp.269 - 285

Received: 09 Dec 2013
Accepted: 01 Apr 2014
Published online: 28 Nov 2014 *

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