EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON MAGNETORHEOLOGY

FLUID BASED MACHINING

A PROJECT REPORT

SUBMITTED BY

DINESH KUMAR.T 211415114397

DINESH KUMAR.S 211415114088

GOUTHAM. J 211415114119
DHAYALAN.S 211415114395

In partial fulfillment for the award of the degree

of

BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING

in

MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

PANIMALAR ENGINEERING COLLEGE;

CHENNAI ANNA UNIVERSITY:: CHENNAI 600 025
APRIL APRIL 2019

i
 BONAFIDE CERTIFICATE

Certified that this project report “EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON

MAGNETO RHEOLOGY FLUID BASED MACHINING” is the Bonafide
work of “DINESH KUMAR.T, DINESH KUMAR.S, GOUTHAM.J,
DHAYALAN.S” who carried out the project work under my supervision.

SIGNATURE SIGNATURE

Dr.L.KARTHIKEYAN, M.E., MBA., Ph.D. Mr.I.JOHN SOLOMON, M.E.,

PROFESSOR AND HEAD SUPERVISOR

Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

Panimalar Engineering College, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering

Varadharajapuram, Nasarathpettai, Panimalar Engineering College,

Poonamallee, Chennai-600123 Poonamallee, Chennai-600123

Certified that the candidates were examined in viva-voice in examination

held on………………….during the year………………..

INTERNAL EXAMINER EXTERNAL EXAMINER

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We wish to express our sincere thanks to our founder and chairman,

Dr.JEPPIAR, M.A., B.L., Ph.D., for his endeavor in educating us in his premier
institution.

We would like to express our gratitude to our secretary and correspondent

Dr.P.CHINNADURAI, M.A., Ph.D., for his kind words and enthusiastic
motivation which inspired us a lot in completing this project.

We express our sincere thanks to our directors Mrs.C.VIJAYA

RAJESWARI, and Mr.C.SAKTHIKUMAR, M.E., for providing us with the
necessary facilities for completion of this report.

We would like to express our gratitude to our Principal Dr.K.MANI, M.E.,

Ph.D,for his encouragement and sincere guidance.

We wish to convey our thanks and gratitude to Dr. L.KARTHIKEYAN,

M.E., M.B.A., Ph.D., Head of the Department, Mechanical Engineering for
providing encouragement for the successful completion of our project.

We are deeply indebted to our internal guide Mr.I.JOHN SOLOMON M.E.,

Assistant Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering for his valuable
guidance, support and suggestions.

We would thank our family, friends and lab instructors for their constant
support and encouragement which helped us to complete this project with great
result.

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 ABSTRACT

Surface Finish is most important property in machining process. Due to poor

surface finish we have poor quality product. The quality plays a vital role in every
product. In traditional machining process we cannot get cost effective finishing.
Hence, we developed a machining process to improve surface finish during
operation. Magneto-rheological Fluid sponsored such kind of high quality surface
finish. Magneto rheological (MR) fluid is a smart fluid whose flow behaviour can
be altered with the application of magnetic field. The MRF technology has ability to
transmit shear force in a controllable manner by application of magnetic field.

The project represents surface finishing operation by using MR fluid. The surface
finish operation carried out on aluminium (6061) material by using three different
compositions of MR fluid as well as at three different speeds. To achieve different
speeds, drilling machine is used and initial and final surface roughness values of the
work piece at each speed is observed and calibrated by surface roughness tester (Ra
value). Different samples are created with three different composition of silicon
carbide with iron carbide and deionized water

The main objective of the project motivates Surface finish at high quality by
achieving Tolerance Limits when compared to other conventional machining
methods like cylindrical grinding, Centreless grinding, etc. Aluminium material is
selected because in conventional machining process it is not possible to obtain
surface roughness beyond certain microns and in other hand process, carried out by
CNC will gradually increases the Machining cost and labour cost. In order to
eliminate the above demerits in Surface finish of Aluminium and achieve high
quality of surface finish, smart fluid called MR fluid is be used

iv
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER NO TITLE PAGE NO

ABSTRACT iv

LIST OF FIGURES vii

LIST OF TABLES viii

1
1. INTRODUCTION
2
1.1PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION

3
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
4
2.1 HISTORY OF MR FINISHING

2.2 FRICTION BEHAVIOUR OF MR

FLUIDS WITH DIFFERENT

5
MATERIALS

2.3 EFFECTS OF MAGNECTIC

FEILD ,STRENGTH IN DIFFRENT

5
TYPE OF MR FLUIDS

2.4 OPTIMIZATION OF MACHINING

6
PARAMETERS DURING CNC

3. METHODOLOGY 8

4. MR FLUID MATERIAL 9

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 4.1 CARBONYL IRON POWDER 10

4.2 SILICON CARBIDE POWDER 11

4.3 DE-IONISED WATER 12

4.4 LITHIUM GREASE 13

4.5 PERMANENT MAGNET 14

5 WORKPIECE MATERIAL 16

6 PRE FINISH OF Al 6061 18

7 PREPARATION OF MR FLUID 19

8 20
DESIGN OF WORKPIECE

9 22
EXPERIMENTAL METHOD
10 24
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
11 29
RESULT AND DISCUSSION

12 COST ESTIMATION 34

13 35
SCOPE OF FUTURE PROJECT
14 CONCLUSION 36

15 REFERENCES 37

vi
 LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO TITLE PAGE NO

4.1 Compositions of Carbonyl iron 9

powder
9.1 Composition of SiC 22

9.2 Selection of Speed 23

11.1 Values of Ra at 600 rpm 29

112 Values of Ra at 1100 rpm 29

11.3 Values of Ra at 1750 rpm 30

11.4 Characterization of Ra at 5% SiC 31

11.5 Characterization of Ra at 10% SiC 31

11.6 Characterization of Ra at 15% SiC 32

11.7 Percentage Decrease in Ra 33

12.1 Cost Estimation 34

vii
 LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO TITLE PAGE NO

3.1 Process flowchart 8

4.1 Carbonyl Iron Powder 10

4.2 Silicon Carbide Powder 11

4.3 Permanent Magnet 15

5.1 Aluminium 6061 Plate 16

6.1 Prefinish of Al 6061 18

8.1 3D Model of Tool 20

8.2 Fabricated Tool 20

8.3 Detailed View of Tool 21

10.1 2D Diagram of Experimental Setup 24

10.2 Drilling Machine 24

10.3 Surface Roughness Tester 24

10.4 ISO Symbols of Ra 27

1
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Magneto-rheological fluid (MRF) is a type of smart material in which its

properties will be changes when the magnetic field imposed on the fluid. In its
initial stage i.e., during the absence of magnetic field, MR Fluid acts as a purely in
liquid state and during the presence of magnetic field, the fluid increases its
viscosity until to the state of viscoelastic (Property that exhibits both viscous and
elastic characteristics) solid.

When the MR Fluid is in viscoelastic state, the molecules present in the fluid get
aligned in a straight line and molecules attracts closer. Due to this, Shear rate of the
fluid gets stronger. At this time, the work piece will be immersed into the fluid
which is under viscoelastic state and tends to give rotary motion that strikes the MR
fluid. Since both MR Fluid and Work piece undergoes shearing restrictions, Friction
will be created and the material removal takes place.

In this project, the prediction of surface roughness parameters of an Aluminium

6061 plate was studied. In this study, Magneto-rheological finishing is used to
obtain precise controllable finishing forces without any external damages. Here MR
Fluid plays a super finishing medium which is the combination of Carbonyl iron
powder (magnetic medium), silicon carbide(abrasive particles) and De-Ionised
water.

The preparation of MR Fluid is taken at various composition levels such as 5, 10

and 15% Silicon Carbide concentrations for the same Carbonyl iron powder
concentration. The various Silicon Carbide concentration was prepared in a separate
beakers respectively. The Surface roughness of Al6061 for different compositions
was studied individually. Here different work piece is used for the different
compositions and filed separately for the identification of the work piece.

1
 The rotary/stirring motion is achieved in this project by drilling Machine. For
this motion setup, design of a new tool was made in which one end of tool
cylindrical tapered and in circular cross section which is inserted and fixed with
collet of the machine and the other end of the tool is designed like fork having two
teeth at required gap for the project. The tooth having align screw to fix the the
work piece firmly.

The drilling machine has speed variation depending on the pulley setup. In this
project, the surface roughness is measured for the different speed ranges of all the
individual work piece. The behaviour of the MR Fluid and the work piece is
observed from the initial to the maximum speed ranges.

Hence, In this MR Fluid based machining process, the parameters are analyzed by
varying composition of material and also by varying angular speed of work piece.

1.1 Problem Identification

As in conventional machining process, which uses heavy machineries to

perform machining operation and will not provide surface finish beyond certain
point Moreover this operation is time consuming which requires skilled labour to
perform the operation. Also the working environment becomes untidy due the chip
disposal. This also includes the surface roughness influenced by various parameters
such as feed rate, cutting speed, depth of cut, type of cutting tool. Since many
industrial requirements are expecting good surface finish that cannot be satisfied by
conventional methods and in order to provide good surface finish an alternative
method called MR fluid is implemented.

2
 On other hand, the work piece carried out is subjected to shear stress which
affects the work piece directly whereas in MR fluid based machining the work piece
is not affected by any form of external stresses. The conventional machining
process requires cooling agent and lubricant to avoid heat but MR fluid based
machining

process does not require any coolant because the fluid itself acts as an cooling agent
and eliminates heat.

There are other means to obtain finer finish such as jet based machining
process but the major drawback it is quite expensive compared to other machining
operations. MR fluid based machining process is cheaper way to obtain fine surface
finish.

3
 CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of Magneto rheological Finishing:

Magneto rheological finishing (MRF) is deterministic method for producing

complex optics with accuracy less than 50nm and surface roughness less than 1nm.
MRF was invented at the Luikov Institute of Heat and Mass Transfer in Minsk,
Belarus in the late 1980s by a team led by William Kordonski.

Inventor of MRF, William started work on magneto rheological (MR) fluids, which
are suspensions of micron-size ferromagnetic particles, such as iron, in fluids such
as oil or water. The viscosity of the fluid increases in the presence of a magnetic
field. The stronger the field, the stiffer the fluid becomes. The increase in viscosity
in the presence of a magnetic field called the magneto-viscous effect.

Initial interest was in using MR Fluids for mechanical applications such as

vibrational damping and actuators. The main challenge was to create stable MR
Fluid suspensions, rather than thick paste like mixture of solids and liquids. To
measure the mechanical properties of MR Fluid, William Kordonski and their co
researchers built the first magneto rheometer.

William’s group had an operating magneto rheological finishing (MRF) machine in

Minsk. The first experiment by MR Fluid is done to obtain aspheric surfaces for
optical glasses were made. A work piece such as ground glass lens is held on a
rotating spindle. The spindle holding the work piece spins at 700 rpm and can be
tipped from vertical to 25º off vertical. MR Fluid stiffens by a factor of 100 when it
enters the 4 kilogauss magnetic field near the work piece. The stiffened fluid
conforms to the shape of the work piece.

4
2.2 Friction Behaviour of MR Fluid with Different Materials:

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the friction and wear characteristics
of MR Fluid in working condition with respect to the strength of the magnetic field
for the different types of materials.

The surface of the specimen was cleaned by an ultrasonic cleaner with acetone. To
understand the impact of variation of the friction coefficient, a low oscillation
frequency and small load were set for the experimental conditions. In the test, the
effect of magnetic field strength on the friction and wear characteristics is examined
for different materials. Although the tester can apply a magnetic field strength of
upto 25mT, only 9mT is applied for the test, because MR Fluid is completely
converted into a semi solid from liquid state when magnetic strength is over 9mT.
The friction characteristics of MR Fluid with boundary friction converted to dry
friction on the contact surface are beyond the scope of the study.

2.3 Effect of various magnetic field strength in different type of MR

Fluids

Each type of MR Fluid has different properties of viscosity, density, solid

content by Wright, and particle weight ratio, which are related to the friction
characteristics. The Experimental condition for the test is as shown in the following
table.

In order to observe the impact of the friction coefficient under different magnetic
field strengths, the friction characteristics of MR Fluids and wear were studied
under magnetic fields of 3, 6 and 9mT. The friction coefficient of 122EG, 132DG
and 140CG increase with increasing magnetic field strength. Carbonyl Iron particles
are constrained in a chain of magnetic particles under the magnetic field, but a few
particles have an abrasive influence on friction process. Magnetic particles turned
into other friction pairs and direct friction occurred between the particles and
materials, resulting in an increase in the overall coefficient of friction.

5
In this paper, friction characteristics of MR Fluids are evaluated with different types
of MR Fluid, Material, and strength of the magnetic field.

 Iron particles in MR Fluid are arranged in the form of chains along the
direction of a magnetic field resulting in the change of rheological properties
of MR Fluid. It leads to higher friction coefficient at the contact surface.
 Three different materials such as aluminium, steel and brass are used for
experiments as they are the most common material in mechanical
applications. The experiments of friction characteristics are carried out with
or without a magnetic field.
 The results show that the friction coefficient increases when a magnetic field
is applied regardless of material. It is assumed that iron particles in MR Fluid
get arranged in the direction of a magnetic field.

2.4 Optimization of machining Parameters during CNC turning of

AL 6061

In the modern manufacturing industry surface finish of the product is most

important with high material removal rate (MRR). To get high surface finish
various process are done on the product such as grinding, buffing and polishing. But
these processes are very costly and time consuming. To reduce this manufacturing
time and cost we are trying to get maximum surface finish by only turning process.
Because turning is the first most machining operation to get finished surface.
Automated and flexible manufacturing methods are used in the industries. CNC
machines are used because they are capable of achieving repeatedly and high
accuracy. There are many factors that affect the surface roughness of the product for
example cutting speed, feed rate, depth of cut, coolant used, tool geometry,
chattering, material properties of the work piece and cutting tool used.

6
 Experiments are performed using high speed CNC turning machine. Turning
operation is performed on rod of aluminium 6061 alloy.

After the experimentation, surface roughness is checked of both the turned and
faced on the Taylor/Hobson contact type profilometer having the stylus radius
having 2µm.

In this paper Response Surface Methodology was used to see the influence of the
input parameters on the surface roughness of Al 6061 alloy.

 Feed rate is the main significant factor for surface roughness.

 Depth of cut and cutting speed has no significant effect on surface roughness.
 Contour and Surface plots was used for determining the optimal conditions to
obtain required surface roughness.

7
 CHAPTER 3

Methodology

Figure 3.1 Process Flow chart

Problem Identification

Solution MR Fluids

Carbonyl iron powder

Fluid Preparation
Silicon Carbide

De-Ionized water

Component Experimental setup Fixture

Preparation

i) 600 rpm
Speed ii) 1100 rpm
Initial Ra iii) 1750 rpm

i) 30 mins
Parameters
MR fluid assisted machining Time ii) 60 mins
iii) 90 mins

Final Ra i) 5% Sic
Composition ii) 10% Sic
iii) 15% Sic

Comparisons

Results and
Discussion

8
 CHAPTER 4

MR FLUID MATERIALS

4.1 Carbonyl iron powder:

Carbonyl iron powder is formed as a whole from several other iron particles.
The particle sizes vary anywhere from 20-200µm. The iron properties differ
depending on the production method and history of a specific Carbonyl iron powder.
There are three types of Carbonyl iron powder classifications: reduced Carbonyl
iron powder, atomized powder, and electrolyte Carbonyl iron powder. Each type is
used in various applications depending on their properties.

For the preparation of MR Fluid, micro sized powder of Iron (250-500 mesh) with
the average size of 20µm is used. The Chemical Property of this Carbonyl iron
powder is, it contains 99% to 99.95% of iron and other sub particles at small
quantity. Its Physical properties are almost all sizes and shapes along with powder
granulation down to Nano particles. This type of Carbonyl iron powder is best
suited for ferromagnetism based projects. The specifications of used Carbonyl iron
powder is as shown in the table.

Table 4.1 Carbonyl iron powder composition

Elements Composition
(%)
Assay 99.5
Lead (Pb) 0.002
Insoluble matter in HCl 0.05
Arsenic (As) 0.0005
Copper (Cu) 0.005
Manganese (Mn) 0.05
Sulphide (S) 0.02
Nickel (Ni) 0.05

9
 Carbonyl iron powder is used in powder metallurgy of iron, steel and in
combination with other metals. They are used in great quantities in the automotive
industries as well as in ferromagnetism.

Figure 4.1
Carbonyl iron powder

Pig iron is an alloy containing about 3% carbon with varying amounts of S, Si, Mn,
and P. It is hard, brittle, fairly fusible, and is used to produce other alloys, including
steel wrought iron contains a few tenths of a percent of carbon, is tough, malleable,
less fusible, and has usually a "fibrous" structure carbon steel is an alloy of iron
with carbon, with small amounts of Mn, S, P, and Si alloy steels are carbon steels
with other additives such as nickel, chromium, vanadium, etc iron is the cheapest
and most abundant, useful, and important of all metals.

4.2 Carbonyl iron powder Specifications:

CIPMS is a high purity Carbonyl iron powder with microsphere particles.
CIPMS Carbonyl iron powder is an exceptionally fine and pure powder with unique
characteristics such as:

 Spherical particles of less than 10 micrometers with defined size distribution

 Excellent compacting and sintering properties
 Unique electromagnetic properties
 Outstanding microwave and radar absorption
 Very high quality consistency from batch to batch
 High chemical purity

10
4.3 Uses
It is used in the cores of high frequency coils that regulate the voltage in
Smart phone, tablet PC, notebook and other sensitive digital electronic devices.

4.4 Silicon Carbide:

There are many abrasive particles for the purpose of material removal. In this
project, Silicon Carbide (500 mesh) with the size 25µm is used. Silicon Carbide is
used to enhance the viscoelastic performances in the MR Fluid. Silicon Carbide
achieves following properties for the requirement of abrasive fluid applications.

 High thermal conductivity

 High Hardness
 Superior corrosion resistance
 Good Mechanical Strength
 Wide ranging compatibility with other materials (Carbonyl iron powder)

Silicon Carbide (SiC) is a compound of silicon and carbon. It is extremely rare on

the earth in mineral form and it has semiconductor properties. It is also known as
carborundum. It has a bluish-black appearance. It has a large number of crystalline
forms. It has a high sublimation temperature and is good heat conductor. It’s
expansion with increase in temperature is low. Also, it has high electric field
breakdown strength.

Figure 4.2
Abrasive Black Silicon Carbide Powder

11
Based on the products, silicon carbide is segmented into types such as black, green,
coated, refractory, metallurgical briquettes, metallurgical, and micro grit. Among all
green and black are the major product segments and are anticipated to experience
stagnant growth on near future. Demand for black silicon carbide is likely to boost
over the forecast period on account of its increasing usage in ceramic, refractory
and steel industries.

Applications of Silicon Carbide:

 Automobile Parts
 Foundry Crucibles
 Electric Systems
 Electronic Circuit System
 Power Electronic Device

4.5 De-Ionised Water

In this project, De-Ionised water at a pH level of about 5-8 is used. De-

Ionised water is specially purified water which eliminates most of the minerals and
salt ions such as Calcium, Magnesium, Sodium, Chloride, Sulphide, Nitrate and
Bicarbonate. De-Ionised water is generally considered distinct from distilled water.

Several stages of De-mineralization occur to obtain the required quality of the final
product and some of these stages may also include reverse osmosis (RO) systems,
where water is pressurized and forced through semi-permeable membranes which
retain the mineral ions and other impurities as well as distillation and filtration.

4.6 Difference between Distilled and De ionized Water

Distillation and deionization are similar in that both processes remove ionic
impurities, but distilled water and deionized water (DI) are not the same and are not
interchangeable for many lab purposes.

12
4.7 Preparation of Distilled Water:

Distilled water is a type of demineralized water that is purified using

distillation. The source water for distillation could be tap water, usually the water is
boiled and the steam is collected and condensed to yield distilled water. Most
minerals and certain other impurities are left behind, but the purity of the source
water is important because some impurities will vaporize along with the water.
Distillation removes salts and particulates.

4.8 Preparation of Deionized Water:

Deionized water is made by running tap water or distilled water through an

electrically charged resin. Usually, a mixed ion exchange bed with both positive and
negative charged resins is used. Cations and anions in the water exchange with H+

and OH- in the resins, producing H2O.

Deionized water is reactive, so its properties start to change as soon as it exposed to

air. Deionized water has a pH of 7 when it delivered, but as soon as it comes into
contact with carbon dioxide from the air, the dissolved CO2 reacts to produce H+

and HCO3-, driving the pH closer to 5.6.

4.9 Lithium Grease:

Due to the weight and density of Carbonyl iron powder and silicon carbide,
they sediment at the bottom of the container/beaker. To reduce the sedimentation,
Lithium Grease is added as stabilizers. Sedimentation is measured by simple
observation of changes in boundary position in clear part of MR Fluid placed into a
transparent plastic beaker. Lithium Grease acts as carrier fluid as well as thickening
agent. By adding desirable grease composition gives better effective amount of
adhesive which is to provide a composition of consistency in the MR Fluid during
the operation.

13
Lithium grease is being used as oil, thickener and additives. The oil is the main
dynamic lubricator, the thickener determines the physical characteristics of the
product, and additives enhance the operating properties of the grease.

Lithium is a type of thickener, so not only provides structure to hold the MR Fluid
in place, but it also acts as a sponge by releasing small amounts of oil during
operation.

Benefits of Lithium Grease:

 Great long term lubrication

 High Viscosity.
 Reduces friction and wear.
 Perfect for metal to metal applications.

4.10 Permanent Magnet:

Magneto-Rheological Fluid, this itself says that the fluid depends upon the
magnetic field and it is also called as Magnetic assisted Fluid. In this project
Magnet plays a vital role to the fluid. Permanent Magnet is used in this project. The
way the domain are oriented in a ferromagnetic substance depends on its property
of magnetism.

The main advantage of a permanent magnet over any other type is that it does not
requires continuous supply of external energy (in the case of electromagnets,
electricity) to exhibit magnetism.

A permanent magnet is an object made from a material that is magnetized and

creates its own persistent magnetic field. An everyday example is a refrigerator
magnet used to hold notes on a refrigerator door. Materials that can be magnetized,
which are also the ones that are strongly attracted to a magnet, are called
ferromagnetic (or ferrimagnetic. These include the elements iron, nickel and cobalt,
some alloys of rare-earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as
lodestone. Although ferromagnetic (and ferromagnetic)

14
materials are the only ones attracted to a magnet strongly enough to be commonly
considered magnetic, all other substances respond weakly to a magnetic field, by
one of several other types of magnetism.

Figure 4.3
Permanent Magnet

Ferromagnetic materials can be divided into magnetically soft materials like

annealed iron, which can be magnetized but do not tend to stay magnetized, and
magnetically hard materials, which do. Permanent magnets are made from hard
ferromagnetic materials such as alnico and ferrite that are subjected to special
processing in a strong magnetic field during manufacture to align their internal
microcrystallinestructure, making them very hard to demagnetize. To demagnetize a
saturated magnet, a certain magnetic field must be applied, and this threshold
depends on coercivity of the respective material. Hard materials have high
coercivity, whereas soft materials have low coercivity. The overall strength of a
magnet is measured by its magnetic moment or, alternatively, the total magnetic
flux it produces. The local strength of magnetism in a material is measured by its
magnetization.

15
 CHAPTER 5

WORK PIECE MATERIAL

5.1 Aluminium 6061

Al6061 is a precipitation-hardened aluminium alloy, containing magnesium

and silicon as its major alloying elements. It has good mechanical properties,
exhibit good weldability, and is very commonly extruded. It is one of the most
common alloys of aluminium for general purpose use.

In this project, the study on machining of Al6061 using shear stresses develops on
MR Fluid is conducted. This material has wide range of applications in automotive
and many other industries. The surface finish characteristics has been presented by
surface roughness tester at microns level.

Many study and researches are still going on to find out the best compatible and
cost effective finishing process for especially Al6061 material.

Figure 5.1

Aluminium 6061 Plate

16
 The main elements are Aluminium sheet 6061 is Mg and Si with medium
strength, good corrosion resistance, weldability. Alloy 6061 can be painted on the
enamel and anodize oxidation colouring used as building decoration materials.

Aluminum sheet 6061 are widely used in all kinds of industrial structures which
have certain strength and high antimicrobial resistance, such as manufacturing truck,
take style buildings, ships, trains, furniture, machinery parts, precision machining
etc.

Aluminum sheet 6061 has some differences between T6 and T651.In general, the
internal stress of T6 is big and when alloy 6061 is processing, it will be out of shape.
For alloy 6061, the most suitable processing condition should be T651, it is
stretched on the basis of T6 to eliminate the internal stress.

17
 CHAPTER 6

PRE-FINISH OF AL 6061 PLATE

An Al 6061 plate of thickness 5mm was taken and it is converted as per

required dimensions for the project. In the project, work piece is dimensioned as per
suitable for the beaker diameter and the MR Fluid quantity.

The plate was taken into cutting action for the dimension of 60×25×5 mm. For the
particular dimension, nine work piece was prepared for the different compositions
of MR Fluid in the project. Then these work pieces were filed at all the surface of
the work piece to remove the chips and irregularities in the work piece.

The work pieces are slightly grooved at both the surface of one top end to firmly fit
in between the teeth of the tool. Initial surface roughness reading is taken before the
machining by surface roughness tester.

Figure 6.1

Work pieces before Machining

18
 CHAPTER 7

PREPARATION OF MR FLUID

The project includes preparation of MR Fluid using different carrier fluids

and additives and study effect of particle size, type and amount of additives and
viscosity on stability of fluid. The carrier fluid used in the project is lithium Grease.
Carbonyl iron powder of size 20µm has been used. To get a better material removal,
Silicon Carbide of size 30 µm is used as abrasive particles. Finally these materials
are introduced into De Ionised water at required Compositions. A brief explanation
of the preparation of the MR Fluid is noted below.

The detailed steps can be described as follows

 1000ml transparent measurement beaker was taken, initially 500ml of De-

Ionised water is poured in the beaker.
 Carbonyl Carbonyl iron powder (20µm) as a magnetite medium at
composition of 400gms is added into the DI water and tends to stir for about
15mins.
 Lithium Grease which acts as a carrier medium as well thickening agent at a
required quantity is added with Carbonyl iron powder and stirred until it
obtain perfect mixture. Perfect mixture can be determined by observing the
sedimentation of Carbonyl iron powder.
 Silicon Carbide (25µm) as an abrasive particle at a composition of 100gms is
added into the mixture and again stirred well manually.
 Finally, the mixture is stirred in a stirring machine setup for 1hour to ensure
magnetic particles are distributed evenly and reduce sedimentation.
 Hence, the particles are evenly distributed in the mixture of liquid which is
called as MR Fluid.

19
 CHAPTER 8

DESIGN OF WORK PIECE HOLDER

The design of new tool to hold the work piece as per the requirement was
designed and produced. The purpose of the tool is to hold the work piece as well
to give stirring action for MR Fluid. The tool is designed such that one end of a
tool is cylindrical and tapered which is fixed into the collet of the machine. The
other end is designed like forks in which two teeth are attached with adjustable
align screw.

Initially a rod of 20mm is taken, the one side of the rod is turned for a radius of
12mm, as it should fix through the drilling machine. The other side of the rod is
cut into fork like shape to hold the work piece. The align screw of 5mm is taken.
The align key is used tighten and loosen the fixation work piece.

Figure 8.1 Figure 8.2

3D Drawing of Work Holder After Fabricated

20
 Figure 8.3
Detailed View of a Tool

21
 CHAPTER 9

EXPERIMENTAL METHOD

9.1 Preparation of Samples:

Our project experimental method was carried out by using three different
samples by varying the amount of silicon carbide. Since silicon carbide acts as a
abrasive substance helps to remove material from the work piece to provide precise
surface finish. For all three samples includes iron carbide of 45%, Distilled Water
of 50%, grease of 10% with their total net weight respectively. But according to
silicon carbide the quantity varies with three different samples of 5%, 10%, 20% of
their net weight.

The technical observation on increase in SiC, is directly proportional to gradual

decrease in average surface roughness value (Ra). Since the amount of Sic plays a
vital role in improving surface finish. Through this experimental method we
observed a great amount of good surface finish on aluminum between the range of
0.1 MICRONS (MIN) to 0.6 MICRONS (MAX).

Table 9.1 Composition of SiC

INGREDIENTS IRON SILICON DE- GREASE

OXIDE CARBIDE IONISED (%)
NO OF SAMPLES POWDER (%) WATER
(%) (%)

SAMPLE 1 45 10 50 10

SAMPLE 2 45 15 50 10

SAMPLE 3 45 20 50 10

22
9.2 Available Speed
The machining parameters are also depends on speed of the work piece
rotation. In this project three different speeds are undertaken to drive the work
piece. This is because increasing the speed for a constant work piece under
different composition which apparently shows changes in increase in surface
finish.

Table 9.2 Diffrent speeds

N1 N2 N3
SPEEDS
(RPM)
600 1100 1750

9.3 Selection of Time

As we know time plays a major role in everything, like wise we had also set
up a time limit in accordance to ensure the surface finish should increase gradually.
Therefore the time that we applied for machinig is directly proportional to increase
in surface finish. The time limit varies with the intervals of 30 Mins for 3 periodic
cycle that equals 90mins for each worpiece under one particular speed of rotation.

It has also observed that after 90 mins ie, after three complete cycle the results
shows increase in surface roughness. Practically it proves restriction of speed for a
particular material would be necessary to achieve good surface finish.

23
 CHAPTER 10
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

10.1 Drilling Machine

The drilling machine or drill press is one of the most common and useful
machine employed in industry for producing forming and finishing holes in a work
piece. There are diffrent types of drilling machine available in the market whereas
in our project we use pillar drilling machine for stirring purpose. Due to three
different speeds provided from the range of 600 rpm to 2500 rpm, stirring process
of aluminium plates would be very easier. The power transmission is through belt
keyed to pulleys.

TOOL

WORKPIECE

MR FLUID

PERMANENT
MAGNET

Figure 10.1 Figure 10.2

2D diagram of experimental setup Drilling Machine

24
10.2 Surface Roughness Tester

Surface roughness often shortened to roughness, is a component of

surface texture. It is quantified by the deviations in the direction of the normal
vector of a real surface from its ideal form. If these deviations are large, the
surface is rough; if they are small, the surface is smooth. In surface
meteorology, roughness is typically considered to be the high-frequency,
short-wavelength component of a measured surface. However, in practice it is
often necessary to know both the amplitude and frequency to ensure that a
surface is fit for a purpose.

Figure 10.3
Surface Roughness Tester

Roughness can be measured by manual comparison against a "surface roughness

comparator" (a sample of known surface roughness), but more generally a surface
profile measurement is made with a profilometer. These can be of the contact
variety (typically a diamond stylus) or optical (e.g. a white light interferometer or
laser scanning confocal microscope).
A Surface Roughness Tester is used to quickly and accurately determine the surface
texture or surface roughness of a material. A roughness tester shows the measured
roughness depth (Rz) as well as the mean roughness value (Ra) in micrometers or
microns (µm).

25
10.3 Procedure for Measuring Surface Roughness:

A diamond stylus is moved vertically in contact with a sample and then

moved laterally across the sample for a specified distance and specified contact
force. A profilometer can measure small surface variations in vertical stylus
displacement as a function of position. A typical profilometer can measure small
vertical features ranging in height from 10 nanometre to 1 millimetre. The height
position of the diamond stylus generates an analog signal which is converted into a
digital signal, stored, analyzed, and displayed. The radius of diamond stylus ranges
from 20 nanometre to 50 μm, and the horizontal resolution is controlled by the scan
speed and data signal sampling rate. The stylus tracking force can range from less
than 1 to 50 milligrams.

 Acceptance: Most of the world's surface finish standards are written for
contact profilometers. To follow the prescribed methodology, this type of
Profilometer is often required.
 Surface Independence: Contacting the surface is often an advantage in
dirty environments where non-contact methods can end up measuring
surface contaminants instead of the surface itself. Because the stylus is in
contact with the surface, this method is not sensitive to surface reflectance
or color.
 Resolution: The stylus tip radius can be as small as 20 nanometre,
significantly better than white-light optical profiling. Vertical resolution is
typically sub-nanometre as well.
 Direct Technique: No modeling required.

26
10.4 Parameters in Surface Roughness:

10.4.1 Mean Roughness (Ra):

Ra is also known as Arithmetic Average (AA) or Center Line Average (CLA). It is

the average roughness in the area between the roughness profile and its mean line.
Graphically, Ra is the area between the roughness profile and its center-line divided
by the evaluation length. The evaluation length is normally five sample lengths
where each sample length is equal to one cutoff length

10.4.2 Root Mean Square deviation (Rq):

The Root Mean Square deviation indicates the root mean square along the sampling
length. It is the average of the profile heights over the evaluation length.

10.4.3 Average Maximum Height of the Profile (Rz):

This parameter is the average of the successive values of Rti calculated over the
evaluation length. It is the same as Rz when there are five sampling lengths within
the evaluation length.

10.4.4 Unit Conversion Of Surface Roughness

Rz = Ra × 7.2
RMS = Ra x 1.1
RQ = RMS

Figure 10.4
ISO surface finish symbols

27
 CHAPTER 11

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

As per the research on obtaining surface finish with help of magneto

rheological fluid at different composition and at different speed it seen, that there is
gradual change at every individual parameter changes.

Work piece which had initial surface roughness of about 0.758µm is made to run at
600rpm in a 5% composition and for every 30mins the roughness of the work piece
is tested. It is clear the surface roughness gets reduced and shows a positive result.
The obtained results were, after 30mins the result was 0.651 µm and after 60mins
the result was 0.528 µm and after 90mins the result was 0.486 µm. the range at
which the surface roughness starts increasing is known as critical range. Probably
most of the work piece showed good results till 90mins beyond which the results
had a negative impact.

The graph of surface roughness shows a gradual drop till 90mins and beyond which
it starts increasing. At same rpm running a work piece in a 10% composition which
had initial surface roughness of about 0.416µm the results obtained at everyone
30mins where, after running for 30mins 0.25 µm and after 60mins 0.077 µm and
finally after 90mins 0.076 µm beyond which the value increases.

It is clear upon drawing a graph between time and surface roughness, the surface
roughness value drops gradually till 90mins and beyond which it starts increasing.
In the same manner at same rpm and 15% composition the results obtained, the
initial value was 0.401 µm and after 30mins the value was 0.366 µm and after
running for 60mins the value was 0.183 and after running for 90mins the value was
0.081 µm and even in this case as like other the value started increasing beyond
90mins showing negative impact on the result.

28
11.1 TABULATION

Table 11.1 Surface Roughness (Ra) Values at 600 rpm

600 RPM

TIME (min)
INITIAL 30 60 90
COMPOSITION (RA)

5% 0.728 0.651 0.524 0.486

10% 0.416 0.25 0.077 0.076

15% 0.401 0.366 0.183 0.081

Table 11.2 Surface Roughness (Ra) Values at 1100 rpm

1100 RPM

TIME (min)
INITIAL
30 60 90
COMPOSITION (RA)

5% 0.387 0.251 0.195 0.16

10% 0.333 0.248 0.193 0.185

15% 0.389 0.252 0.238 0.182

29
 Table 11.3 Surface Roughness (Ra) Values at 1750 rpm

1750 RPM

TIME (min)
INITIAL
30 60 90
COMPOSITION (RA)

5% 0.21 0.153 0.112 0.109

10% 0.431 0.326 0.205 0.179

15% 0.366 0.187 0.155 0.129

11.2 PERCENTAGE DECREASE IN SURFACE ROUGHNESS

Table 11.4 Percentage Decrease

PERCENTAGE DECREASE IN RA VALUES (%) FROM INITIAL

TIME (Mins)
30 60 90
SIC

SAMPLE 1 (5%) 10.57 28.02 33.24

SAMPLE 2 (10%) 39.9 81.49 81.73

SAMPLE 3 (15%) 8.72 54.36 79.8

30
 Table 11.5 Surface Roughness (Ra) at 600 rpm
Composition – 5% SiC

Initial Ra 30 Mins 60 Mins 90Mins

31
 Table 11.6 Surface Roughness (Ra) at 600 rpm
Composition – 10% SiC

Initial (Ra) 30 Mins 60Mins 90Mins

32
 Table 11.7 Surface Roughness (Ra) at 600 rpm
Composition – 15% SiC

Initial (Ra) 30 Mins 60Mins 90Mins

33
 CHAPTER 12

COST ESTIMATION

Table 12.1 Cost Estimation

SL.NO MATERIALS QUANTITY COST (INR)

1 Measurement Beaker 1 100
2 Carbonyl iron powder 2000 gms 3600
3 Aluminium Raw Material 500 gms 830
4 Aluminium Pre Machining - 400
5 Silicon Carbide Powder 500 gms 450
6 Lithium Grease 250 gms 60
7 Permanent Magnet 4 100

8 Deionised Water 5 ltrs 500

9 Miscellaneous - 200

TOTAL 6240

34
 CHAPTER 13

SCOPE OF FUTURE PROJECT

The development of Nanotechnology is becoming a viral part in wide range

of applications in the industries. In those applications, one of the most evolving
field is Nano finishing, in which the target is to obtain the surface finish of a
material better than it achieves in existing Super finishing process and techniques.

An approach of technology is given by using the science of chemistry which is

called as Magnetorheological Technology. Which is introduced into the Nano
finishing Process to the manufacturing sectors. The approach can be used in
automobile industries, space and the places where the requirement of additional
finishing is to done.

Moreover in MR fluid assisted machining process the surface finish can obtained by
considering various parameters such as magnetic flux which has direct effect on
viscosity. The magnetic flux value can be controlled with help of electro Magnet
and which has an effect on finish.

The project will be taken to the next level of research to achieve the ease of acquire
all the material to adopt this technique.

35
 CHAPTER 14

CONCLUSION

By considering the objectives and by reviewing the literature, various executions

were studied and implemented in the project. The Magnetorheological Fluid was
used as source of micro finishing of an Aluminium 6061 plate.

It is observed that the surface finish of a material depends upon the magnetic field
strength and as well as the perfect composition of additives involved in the MR
Fluid. It is concluded as follows.

 Increasing the magnetic field increases visco elasticity of the fluid up to to

the certain limit and thereafter shear stress involves in the material removal
process.
 The results and tabulation shows that the variation in the surface finish
according to the addition of Silicon Carbide.
 The variation in rotational speed and consecutive increase of time of rotations
for the respective speeds gives a decrement in the roughness value gradually.
This gradual decrement is maintained for the particular limit of time and
hence the project was taken to the extreme time limit.

36
 CHAPTER 15

REFERENCES

 Optimization of Machining Parameters during CNC turning of Aluminium

6061 with CNMG EN-TM(H20TI) insert using Responce Surface Methodology.

 (Jasvir Singh, Harvinder Singh, Gagandeep Singh Dhindsa)

 Marzena SUTOWSKA1, Pawel SUTOWSKI2 , Koszalin University of

1,2

Technology, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering,Unconventional HydroJetting

Technology Center, Poland. (Contemporary Applications of magneto
Rheological Fluids for Finishing).

 Mukul Kataria1 , S.K. Mangal2 , 1Research Scholar, 2Associate Professor,

Mechanical Engineering Department, PEC University of Technology,
Chandigarh. (Effect of Magnetic Field In Magneto Rheological Fluid Finishing
Process).

 Ganapathy Srinivasan R1 , Shanmugan S2 and Palani S3 .123 Veltech Multi Tech.

(Applications of Magneto Rheological Fluid in Machining Process).

 V.K. Jain*, Indian Institute of Technology, Mechanical Engineering, Kanpur

208016, Uttar Pradesh, India. (Magnetic field assisted abrasive based micro-
/nano-finishing).

 Ajay Sidpara, V.K.Jain*, Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute

of technology – Kanpur, India. (Experimental investigations into forces during
magneto rheological fluid based finishing process).

 K.Saraswathamma* , Mechanical Engineering Department, Osmania University,

Hyderabad, India. (Magneto Rheological Finishing)

37