“A Study on Abrasive Flow Machining Technique” |

ABSTRACT:

Manufacturingmachine components having complex geometric shapes and profiles made up ofsmart materials requiring nanometer range surface finish and dimensionalaccuracy has led to the development of newer finish-machining techniques. Ithas been reported that final finishing operations constitute the mostessential, sensitive, labour intensive and time consuming operations whichconsume almost 10-15 percent of the total manufacturing costs. Abrasive flowmachining (AFM) is a novel non-traditional machining process developed as amethod to debug, polish and radius surfaces and edges by flowing an abrasiveladen media over otherwise difficult to machine areas and surfaces. In AFM, asemi-solid medium consisting of a polymer-based carrier and abrasives intypical proportions is extruded through or past the surface to be machined. Thevisco-elastic medium acts as a deformable grinding tool whenever and whereverit is subjected to restriction. The medium is flexible enough to mould itselfto virtually any complex shape or contour, and it has the ability to abradehard and tough materials. A high degree of surface finish and close tolerancescan be achieved on a wide range of components by AFM.