Experimental investigation into the effect of abrasive and force conditions in magnetic field-assisted finishing

This paper presents an experimental study on the key process parameters in magnetic field-assisted finishing (MFAF), aiming to investigate the relations between the magnetic abrasives, polishing force, material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness. The experiments were conducted using a dual magnetic roller tool combining with a 6-axis robot arm. The effect of abrasive type and size on polishing force and MRR, wear of magnetic abrasives, surface roughness and surface morphologies obtained using different types of magnetic abrasives were evaluated quantitatively. The results show that the type of SiC-based magnetic abrasives had a higher MRR but lower polishing force than that of Al2O3-based magnetic abrasives. Due to the inability of carbonyl iron powder (CIP) carrier to hold large SiC or Al2O3 particles during the rotation motion of the magnetic roller tools, large particle size abrasives have a lower MRR as well as polishing force than small particle size abrasives. The wear of magnetic abrasives was demonstrated through scanning electron microscope (SEM) observation and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis of abrasive particles before and after polishing. The surface morphologies generated by the four different experimental conditions of magnetic abrasives were different although the surface roughness achieved a similar value.