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Since, the abrasive laden medium is semisolid,
the finishing lay wont be exactly in direction.
Depth of indentation depends on
r
F , while
a
F and
t
F (
2 2
c a t
F F F = + ) are responsible to remove the
material in the form of -chips. Where, Fa represents
axial force, Ft represents tangential force, Fr
represents radial force and Fc and Ff gives the
resultant forces in 2-D and 3-D planes respectively.
A A
Workpiece
Drill bit
Fixture plate
Piston
Cylinder
Fixture
Medium
Slot in the
fixture plate
Fixture plate
7
(a) (b) (c)
Fig.6. Forces and velocity components in R-AFF process in the finishing region (a) Overview of various forces
and velocities in workpiece, (b) Enlarged view of shearing of roughness peaks on the workpiece surface by
abrasive grains, (c) Free body diagram of forces and velocities in RAFF process [28].
Fig. 7: Surface finish improvement before and after on (a) internal passages within turbine engine diffuser (b)
Medical implants (c) complex automotive engine parts
Before AFM
After AFM
Fig. 8: Photomicrograph showing complete removal of EDM recast layer
4. Application of AFM
4.1 Automotives
The demand for this process is increasing among car
and two wheeler manufacturers as it is capable to
make the surfaces smoother for improved air flow and
better performance. AFM process is used to enhance
the performance of high-speed automotive engines.
AFM process is capable to finish automotive and
medical parts, and turbine engine components [Fig.7].
Internal passages within a turbine engine diffuser are
polished to increase air flow to the combustion
chamber of the engine. The rough, power robbing
cast surfaces are improved from 80-90% regardless
of surface complexities.
4.2 Dies and Moulds
Since in the AFM process, abrading medium
conforms to the passage geometry, complex shapes
can be finished with ease. Dies are ideal workpieces
for the AFM process as they provide the restriction for
medium flow, typically eliminating fixturing
F
a
, V
a
F
t
, V
t
Fr
F
c
, V
c
F
t
, V
t
F
r
F
a
, V
a
F
f
F
c
, V
c
Before
AFM
After AFM
Before
AFM
After AFM
8
requirements. The uniformity of stock removal by
AFM permits accurate 'sizing' of undersized precision
die passages.
The original 2m Ra (EDM finish) is improved to
0.2m with a stock removal of (EDM recast layer)
0.025mm per surface (Fig. 8).
5. Concluding remarks
AFM is a well established advanced finishing process
capable of meeting the diverse finishing requirements
from various sectors of applications like aerospace,
medical and automobile. It is commonly applied to
finish complex shapes for better surface roughness
values and tight tolerances. But the major
disadvantage of this process is low finishing rate. So
continuous efforts are being made to increase
finishing rate, improve surface texture and to some
extend to improve MRR. To achieve an accurate and
efficient finishing operation without compromising the
finishing performance, understanding of inter
relationship between various input parameters and
output responses that influence the process
performance. This leads to identification of various
optimal finishing conditions from the infinite number of
combinations and their modelling. The better
performance is achieved if the process is monitored
online. So, acoustic emission technique is tried to
monitor the surface finish and material removal but
ended with only marginal improvement. Later various
modelling techniques (mathematical, analytical and
empirical) are used to model this process to correlate
with experimental results. To overcome the
disadvantages of the process, many modifications (M-
AFM, CFAAFM, DBGAFF, R-AFF and spiral polishing
method) have been tried. But in spiral polishing,
CFAAFM and DBGAFF processes, the probability of
role of additional tooling which is at the middle of the
slug has less influence on the finishing direction of
active abrasive grain. But later this problem is solved
by rotating the workpiece itself. It makes the active
abrasive grains to follow helical path, which improves
the contact length of the active abrasive grain with
workpiece. In R-AFF process, better improvement in
surface roughness is achieved compared to AFM and
takes lesser time to achieve same surface finish that
can be achieved through AFM process. But authors
feel that there is still room for lot of improvements in
the present AFM status.
Acknowledgement
The authors acknowledge the financial support
provided by the Aeronautics R & D Board, New Delhi,
for Project No. DARO/08/1161387/M/I, entitled as
Finishing of Miniature Holes in Super Alloys using
Abrasive Flow Machining (AFM).
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th
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V.K., Experimental Investigations and
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st
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