Article: Characterisation and performance evaluation of developed alternative polymer abrasive gels for abrasive flow finishing process Journal: International Journal of Precision Technology (IJPTECH) 2015 Vol.5 No.3/4 pp.185 - 200 Abstract: In abrasive flow finishing (AFF), media is the key element that dominates the finishing behaviour. However, commercially available abrasive media are very expensive and its affordability is an issue, especially for price sensitive industries. Lower cost alternative AFM media are developed which consists of base polymers, additives and liquid synthesiser by uniformly mixing them to become the flexible polymer abrasive gels. Effects of abrasive concentrations, temperature, abrasive mesh size and percentage of liquid synthesiser on viscosity of polymer abrasive gel have been studied to characterise the rheology of developed gels. Developed alternative polymer abrasive gel can withstand up to 100°C. It is found that the average surface roughness (R<SUB align="right"><SMALL>a</SMALL></SUB>) decreased from 3.5 µm to 0.60 µm after 50 machining cycles and 60 weight percentage abrasive concentrations. In similar conditions 0.6-1.3 mg of material got removed from HSS trim dies based on different viscosity grades of developed polymer abrasive gels. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Characterisation and performance evaluation of developed alternative polymer abrasive gels for abrasive flow finishing process

Authors: JaiKishan Sambharia; Harlal Singh Mali

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur 302017, India

Abstract: In abrasive flow finishing (AFF), media is the key element that dominates the finishing behaviour. However, commercially available abrasive media are very expensive and its affordability is an issue, especially for price sensitive industries. Lower cost alternative AFM media are developed which consists of base polymers, additives and liquid synthesiser by uniformly mixing them to become the flexible polymer abrasive gels. Effects of abrasive concentrations, temperature, abrasive mesh size and percentage of liquid synthesiser on viscosity of polymer abrasive gel have been studied to characterise the rheology of developed gels. Developed alternative polymer abrasive gel can withstand up to 100°C. It is found that the average surface roughness (R_a) decreased from 3.5 µm to 0.60 µm after 50 machining cycles and 60 weight percentage abrasive concentrations. In similar conditions 0.6-1.3 mg of material got removed from HSS trim dies based on different viscosity grades of developed polymer abrasive gels.

Keywords: AFF; abrasive flow finishing; polymer abrasive gel; FTIR; Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy; TGA; thermogravimetric analysis; HSS; high speed steel; trim dies; rheology; performance evaluation; abrasive concentrations; temperature; abrasive mesh size; liquid synthesiser; viscosity; surface roughness; surface quality.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPTECH.2015.073824

International Journal of Precision Technology, 2015 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.185 - 200

Received: 15 Apr 2015
Accepted: 12 Aug 2015
Published online: 23 Dec 2015 *

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Title: Characterisation and performance evaluation of developed alternative polymer abrasive gels for abrasive flow finishing process

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