INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY ROORKEE

NON-TRADITIONAL MACHINING
PROCESSES
MIN-588
Advanced Fine Finishing Process

Dr. Varun Sharma

Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
IIT Roorkee
ABRASIVE FLOW MACHINING

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Abrasive Flow Machining(AFM)

Need of AFM
• Conventional finishing processes like grinding, lapping, honing etc. have their
use limit to cylindrical and flat surfaces.
• Finishing of difficult-to-machine material.
• Finishing of inaccessible areas and complex internal passages.

Introduction to AFM
• Non-conventional finishing process .
• Extrude Hone developed AFM process in 1960s.
• Self deformable abrasive laden media is extruded to and fro through or across
the restricted passage between workpiece and tooling.
• Abrasion of media takes place due to extrusion and it results in finished surface.

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Components of AFM

1. Machine
• Hydraulic unit having two hydraulic
cylinders which helps in to and fro
motion of abrasive media contained in
media cylinders.
• Extrusion pressure is controlled by
hydraulic unit.
2. Tooling
• Tooling consist of fixture to hold the
workpiece.
• Abrasive media flows through the
restricted gap provided by the workpiece
and tooling.
3. Media
• The abrasive laden media consist of
viscoelastic polymer base, abrasives and Schematic of AFM [1].
processing oil.
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Mechanism of Material Removal
• Media is allowed to flow through
restricted passage between
workpiece and tooling.
• Media has self deformable
characteristic due to which it is
capable of deforming itself to any
shape.
• Finishing of surface will takes place
due to any of following reasons:
a) elastic deformation correlated with
rubbing.
b) Shearing of the asperities i.e. micro Schematic of Material Removal Mechanism
cutting. [3].
c) Flattening due to plastic
deformation by moving abrasive
particles under pressure.

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Process Parameters of AFM
Machine based Workpiece based
parameters parameters

Extrusion pressure Mechanical properties

No. of cycles Initial surface

roughness
Volume flow rate

Surface Finish,
Material Removal
Type of abrasive
and mesh size
Type of processing oil
Concentration of
abrasives Viscosity

Temperature
Additives

Medium based
parameters
Process Parameters of AFM.
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EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON
MATERIAL REMOVAL

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EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON SURFACE
ROUGHNESS

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VARIANTS OF AFM
• Magnetically assisted Abrasive Flow Machining (MAFM)
• Magnetorheological Abrasive Flow Finishing (MRAFF)
• Electrochemical aided Abrasive Flow Machining (ECAAFM)
Hybrid Process
• Ultrasonic Assisted Abrasive Flow Machining (UAAFM)

• Drill-Bit-Guided Abrasive Flow Finishing (DBG-AFF)

• Centrifugal Force assisted Abrasive Flow Machining (CFAAFM)
Derived Process • Rotating workpiece Abrasive Flow Finishing (R-AFF)

• Rotational Magnetorheological Abrasive Flow Finishing (R-MRAFF)

Derived Process • Hybrid Electrochemical and Centrifugal Force assisted AFM
from Hybrid
Process

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Magnetically assisted Abrasive Flow
Machining (MAFM)
• Electromagnet is used to control the abrasive action of abrasive media.

• Abrasive media which contain magnetic abrasive particles (containing 40%

ferromagnetic constituent, 40% Al2O3, and 15% Si2O3), silicon based polymer
and hydrocarbon gel.

• While the media flows through the workpiece cavity, the extrusion pressure is
applied by the hydraulic cylinders and electromagnet pulled the magnetic
abrasive particles towards the internal surface of the workpiece.

• This enhances surface finish and material removal, thus reducing the finishing
time and number of finishing cycles.

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 MAFM

(1) upper media cylinder and flange;

(2) DC electromagnet;
(3) lower media cylinder and flange;
(4) workpiece;
(5) upper fixture plate;
(6) lower fixture plate;
(7) magnetic abrasive particles.

Schematic of MAFM [5].

Comparison of MAFM with AFM [5].

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Magnetorheological Abrasive Flow Finishing
(MRAFF)

• Better control over the rheological properties of abrasive laden

magnetorheological(MR) finishing medium.

• MR fluid consist carbonyl iron powder, SiC abrasives, viscoelastic medium and
processing oil.

• In absence of magnetic field this MR-fluid behave like Newtonian fluid.

• Magnetic field is applied the particles aggregate into chains of dipoles aligned in
the field direction.

• The abrasive held by carbonyl iron chains rub the workpiece surface and shear
the peaks from it thus results in better finishing and material removal.

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Cont….

Figure 8: (a) Mechanism of Magnetorheological Figure 9: Effect of magnetic field on Ra value [6].
abrasive flow finishing process;
(b) Change in rheological behaviour of MR-polishing
fluid during finishing [6].

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Centrifugal Force-assisted Abrasive Flow
Machining (CFAAFM)
• A centrifugal force generating(CFG)
rod is used in workpiece passage.
• Additional centrifugal force acting
on abrasives.
• Rotary motion to CFG rod is
provided using gearing arrangement
attached to the fixtures.
• Additional centrifugal force on
abrasives results in change in
contact pattern of abrasives.
• Abrasive density contacting the Figure 10: CFAAFM Fixture and
workpiece surface increase thus Rotating Attachment [7].
material removal and surface finish
also increase.

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 Cont….

Figure 11: Effect of CFG Rod Rotational Speed and Figure 12: Effect of CFG Rod Shape on ΔRa (%)
Extrusion Pressure on (a) Improvement in Surface and Material Removal (mg) [7].
Roughness (%) and (b) Material Removal (mg) [7].

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 Electrochemical Aided Abrasive Flow Machining
(ECAAFM)
• Combination of electrochemical
machining and abrasive flow
machining process.
• Finishing medium consist of
polymeric electrolyte which also helps
in transportation of abrasives.
• An additional copper electrode is
introduced as cathode in finishing
medium and workpiece is made as
anode.
• A DC voltage of 5-15 V is applied
between the electrodes.
• More material removal in this process
due to anodic dissolution at an atomic
level along with the abrasion due to Figure 13: Schematic of ECAAFM [8].
mechanical cutting by the abrasives.

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Rotating Workpiece AFF (R-AFF)

• Additional rotary motion is provided to the workpiece.

• It causes additional tangential force act on abrasive particle and creates
turbulence in the abrasive medium.
• This results in increase in abrasive grain density of active abrasive particles and
depth of indentation .
• Resulting higher material removal rate and surface finish.

Figure 15: Effect of Workpiece Rotational Speed

Figure 14: Schematic of R-AFF [10]. on (a) ΔRa and (b) MR [10].
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Drill Bit-Guided Abrasive Flow Finishing (DBG-
AFF)
• A helical flute drill bit is introduced in the machining zone.
• Fixture is provided with two plates at top and bottom having two slots
corresponding to two flutes of drill bit.
• Finishing medium divided into two halves, move along the flute and recombine
at the exit.
• This cause reshuffling of medium and improve effectiveness of medium.
• Results in better surface finish.

Fig. 17. Comparison Between Conventional AFF and

Figure 16: Schematic of DBG-AFF [11] DBG- AFF for (a) Material Removal, (b) ΔRa [11]
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Rotational Magnetorheological Abrasive Flow
Finishing (R-MRAFF)
• Modification of MRAFF Additional rotary motion is given to the fixture.
• Additional centrifugal force will act on magnetorheological polishing fluid along with
reciprocating motion.
• This increases the effective abrasion and generate crosshatch lay pattern which is useful
for lubrication purposes.

Figure 19: Effect of Rotational Speed of

Figure 18: Schematic of R-MRAFF [12].
Magnet [12].
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Ultrasonic Assisted Abrasive Flow Machining
(UAAFM)
• Combination of ultrasonic machining with abrasive flow machining.
• Ultrasonic vibrations are provided to the workpiece in the transverse direction to
the abrasive motion.
• These vibrations cause an additional radial force by abrasive particles on
workpiece.
• Increase the depth of indentation.
• Results in more material removal and surface finish.

Fig. 20. Schematic of UAAFM [13].

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Hybrid Electrochemical and Centrifugal Force
Assisted AFM

• It is a hybrid variant of centrifugal force assisted AFM and ECM.

• Copper rod is inserted in the form of cathode in the hollow workpiece.

• Workpiece act as anode.

• Copper rod is provided rotary motion by using a gearing arrangement.

• Combined effect of centrifugal force and ECM is used along with AFM to take
the advantage in better surface finish and material removal.

• This process takes 70-80% less finishing time compared to AFM.

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Applications of AFM

• Finishing of automotive components: fuel injectors, silicon wafers used in

radiators etc.
• Finishing of EDMed components: recast layer is formed due to the
solidification of melted material which will be removed using AFM.
• Finishing of modern materials: non-ferrous alloys, super alloys, ceramics,
refractory materials, carbides, semiconductors, quartz, composites etc.
• Miscellaneous Applications: Improvement of the flow characteristics for
compressor and turbine elements, exhaust collectors, nozzles, and diffusers after
rough milling.
• Improvement of the flow characteristics for compressor and turbine elements,
exhaust collectors, nozzles, and diffusers after rough milling, ECM, EDM, or
precision casting.
• Removal of burrs, rounding, and polishing of the slot edges for improvement of
fatigue resistance of blades, discs, hubs, and shafts.

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LIMITATIONS OF AFM

• Designing of fixture is a major issue in AFM, for different shaped component we

needs to design a new fixture and tool.
• It is difficult to finish composites because the reinforcement and matrix of the
composites possess quite different properties.
• Leakage of abrasive media under high extrusion pressure can be a major
problem in AFM.
• Controlling of process parameters is an issue in AFM.
• AFM process also has low finishing rate and low performance while finishing
advanced materials.

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MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

Assumptions:
• Abrasives are supposed to be spherical in shape. The size of abrasives are calculated from
their mesh size number and average value is considered for analysis.
• The abrasives in the media are supposed to be uniformly distributed. The media is
isotropic and homogeneous.
• The load carried by each abrasive is assumed to be constant and considered equal to
average load.
• Every abrasive is assumed to generate same depth of penetration.
• The hardness of the workpiece is assumed to be same before and after finishing
operation.
• Workpiece material is perfectly plastic and no pile-up of material takes place in front of
abrasives.
• Only a fraction of abrasives takes part in finishing and are known as active abrasives.
• Peaks present on the surface of workpiece are assumed to be triangular in shape.
• The microchips produced during the finishing process are considered to have negligible
effect on viscosity and abrasive action of media.

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MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

The normal force act on abrasive during flow of abrasives through the restricted flow penetrate the
work surface like Brinell ball during hardness test. During extrusion, the horizontal translation of this
penetrated abrasive cause the deformation of work surface and removal of material in form of chips.

The indenting force Fn (normal force) on a spherical grain of diameter dg is given as

where, σr is normal stress acting on the grain

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 MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

If a is the radius of the projected area of indentation ߜA, t is depth of indentation,

and Hw is hardness of workpiece material, then

From the geometry, radius of the projected area ‘a’ of the indent made and depth of
indentation (t) can be obtained as

By putting the value of ‘a’ in term of Fn and Hw

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MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

• Cross sectional area A’ = Area ABCDA – Area of triangle

ABD

Volume of the material removed (Va) = Area of

groove generated (A’) * Contact Length (Li)

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MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

Let N be the number of abrasive grains simultaneously acting per unit area of
contact. Total no. of abrasive grains (Ns) indenting in the workpiece surface per
stroke given by
Ns = Perimeter of workpiece * No. of abrasives per unit area * length of abrasive
media pass through workpiece in single stroke

where, ls is stroke length, vp is velocity of piston, vf is velocity of flow across

workpiece surface, and Rw is radius of cylindrical workpiece
From continuity equation

where, Rc is radius of media cylinder.

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MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AFM

Hence, volumetric material removal in ith stroke (Vi) in AFM is given

as

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