Electrochemical-aided abrasive flow machining (ECA2FM) process: a hybrid machining process

Abrasive flow machining is a fine finishing process, mainly for the finishing of complex internal/external surfaces of metallic parts. Like most of the finishing processes, this process is also a slow process due to low material removal rate. Hybridization of abrasive flow machining process (AFM) with other non-conventional machining (NCM) processes is being explored in the recent times, so as to overcome the main limitation of low material removal in the AFM process and to satisfy the stringent finish/functional requirements. The present study is about the development of a novel hybrid of electrochemical machining (ECM) and abrasive flow machining (AFM), for the fine finishing of internal holes or prismatic recesses. The new process has been termed as electrochemical-aided abrasive flow machining (ECA(2)FM) process, and higher abrasion of the material was observed in this process due to the synergetic effect of ECM and AFM processes. Further in the present investigation, the various process parameters have been optimized for the response characteristic of material removal, based on Taguchi method and using standard L-27 orthogonal array (OA) for the plan of experimentation. Overall, the ECA(2)FM process has a very promising future in the industries in terms of its ability to finish fast even if the component is thin/delicate and made of hard alloys.