Analysis of magnetorheological fluid behavior in chemo-mechanical magnetorheological finishing (CMMRF) process

Advanced nanofinishing is an important process in manufacturing technologies due to its direct influence on optical quality, bearing performance, corrosion resistivity, bio-medical compatibility and micro-fluidics attributes. Chemo-mechanical magnetorheological finishing (CMMRF) process, one of the advanced nanofinishing process, was developed by combining essential aspects of chemo-mechanical polishing (CMP) process and magnetorheological finishing (MRF) process for surface finishing of engineering materials: The CMMRF process was experimentally analyzed on silicon and copper alloy to generate surface roughness of the order of few angstroms and few nanometers respectively. However, the process needs theoretical exploration towards better understanding, process optimization and result prediction. Hence, an attempt has been made for theoretical study of CMMRF process to analyze the effects of MR fluid under various process parameters. The present theoretical work is split as per following two sub-activities to simplify intricacy of the work. 1) FEA-CFD simulation to analyze magnetism, polishing pad formation and polishing pressure during the CMMRF process. The simulation results are used to conduct experiments on aluminium alloy. 2) A mathematical model has been developed to predict material removal as well as surface roughness during the CMMRF process. Model validation is conducted by comparing finite element simulation results with the experiments on aluminium alloy. The theoretical results show good agreement with the experimental data and the same has been discussed in this paper. (C) 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.