Experimental Investigations of Magnetorheological Honing Process for Improved Finishing Of Ferro Magnetic Materials

Abstract

The various ferromagnetic cylindrical components such as injection barrel, cylindrical mold and die, hydraulic cylinders etc. are now-a-days of being a greater demand in the manufacturing industry. Today, these components are mainly finished by the traditional finishing processes namely; grinding and honing. During the finishing processes, the uncontrollable finishing forces provided by the rigid abrasive stones on the internal surface of the cylindrical workpiece which may result in various surface defects such as deeper grooves, cavities, grooves with sharper edges and ploughed materials. Such defects decrease the efficiency as well as the reliability of the cylindrical components during its actual functional applications in industries. The requirement of the highly finished surface (i.e. defect-free surface) is still important challenged in today s industry for producing a precise finish surface. The better surface characteristics requirement on these components can lead to the closer tolerance design, better surface geometry, and longer service life etc. Also, the functional capability of a surface mainly depends on the load - bearing capacity, wear and friction resistance, and fatigue strength etc. which mainly controlled by reducing the surface roughness values. The existing developed magnetorheological (MR) fluid based finishing processes such as magnetorheological abrasive flow finishing (MRAFF) and rotational-magnetorheological abrasive flow finishing (R-MRAFF) are found more suitable for precise finishing of the internal surface of the non-ferromagnetic cylindrical workpieces made with materials such as stainless steel, brass etc. But, due to its design structure, it is likely less effective in finishing of the internal surface of ferromagnetic cylindrical workpieces. The reason is that the electromagnet is located outside the cylindrical workpiece and MR polishing fluid inside the cylindrical workpiece.