Manufacturing and performance analysis of mechanically alloyed magnetic abrasives for magneto abrasive flow finishing

The final finishing of precision components possessing a high degree of surface finish has bring about the application of magneto abrasive flow finishing (MAFF) process because of the development of manufacturing technology. In MAFF process, the magnetic abrasives play the role of cutting tool in MAFF process. This investigation highlights a novel technique of manufacturing magnetic abrasives with mechanical alloying followed by heat treatment. The performance of these magnetic abrasives was analysed in terms of percentage surface finish improvement (PSFI) of aluminum tubes. The experiments were planned and conducted according to response surface method (RSM) on aluminum tubes to check the effects of several parameters/limits such as magnetic flux density (MFD), no. of cycles and extrusion pressure (EP) on surface finishing. The experimental results revealed that the best PSFI of 72.7 % has been obtained at optimal processing conditions. The best surface finish (Ra) of 0.27 mu m was acquired in this investigation. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images have been obtained to show the surface finish improvement after MAFF process.