Investigation of Synthesis, Characterization, and Finishing Applications of Spherical Al2O3 Magnetic Abrasives via Plasma Molten Metal Powder and Powder Jetting.

Magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) is an efficient finishing process method using magnetic abrasive particles (MAPs) as finishing tools. In this study, two iron-based alumina magnetic abrasives with different particle size ranges were synthesized by the plasma molten metal powder and powder jetting method. Characterization of the magnetic abrasives in terms of microscopic morphology, phase composition, magnetic permeability, particle size distribution, and abrasive ability shows that the magnetic abrasives are spherical in shape, that the hard abrasives are combined in the surface layer of the iron matrix and remain sharp, and that the hard abrasives combined in the surface layer of the magnetic abrasives with smaller particle sizes are sparser than those of the magnetic abrasives with larger particle sizes. The magnetic abrasives are composed of α-Fe and Al2O3; the magnetic permeability of the magnetic abrasives having smaller particle sizes is slightly higher than that of the magnetic abrasives having larger particle sizes; the two magnetic abrasives are distributed in a range of different particle sizes; the magnetic abrasives have different magnetic permeabilities, which are higher than those of the larger ones; both magnetic abrasives are distributed in the range of smaller particle sizes; and AZ31B alloy can obtain smaller surface roughness of the workpiece after the grinding process of the magnetic abrasives with a small particle size.

Experimental Investigation on Magnetic Abrasive Finishing for Internal Surfaces of Waveguides Produced by Selective Laser Melting.

To enhance the surface quality of metal 3D-printed components, magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) technology was employed for post-processing polishing. Experimental investigation employing response surface methodology was conducted to explore the impact of processing gap, rotational speed of the magnetic field, auxiliary vibration, and magnetic abrasive particle (MAP) size on the quality enhancement of internal surfaces. A regression model correlating roughness with crucial process parameters was established, followed by parameter optimization. Ultimately, the internal surface finishing of waveguides with blind cavities was achieved, and the finishing quality was comprehensively evaluated. Results indicate that under optimal process conditions, the roughness of the specimens decreased from Ra 2.5 µm to Ra 0.65 µm, reflecting a reduction rate of 74%. Following sequential rough and fine processing, the roughnesses of the cavity bottom, side wall, and convex surface inside the waveguide reduced to 0.59 µm, 0.61 µm, and 1.9 µm, respectively, from the original Ra above 12 µm. The findings of this study provide valuable technical insights into the surface finishing of metal 3D-printed components.

An Overview of the Latest Progress in Internal Surface Finishing of the Additively Manufactured Metallic Components.

Fast progress in near-net-shape production of parts has attracted vast interest in internal surface finishing. Interest in designing a modern finishing machine to cover the different shapes of workpieces with different materials has risen recently, and the current state of technology cannot satisfy the high requirements for finishing internal channels in metal-additive-manufactured parts. Therefore, in this work, an effort has been made to close the current gaps. This literature review aims to trace the development of different non-traditional internal surface finishing methods. For this reason, attention is focused on the working principles, capabilities, and limitations of the most applicable processes, such as internal magnetic abrasive finishing, abrasive flow machining, fluidized bed machining, cavitation abrasive finishing, and electrochemical machining. Thereafter, a comparison is presented based on which models were surveyed in detail, with particular attention to their specifications and methods. The assessment is measured by seven key features, with two selected methods deciding their value for a proper hybrid machine.

Investigation of Spherical Al2O3 Magnetic Abrasive Prepared by Novel Method for Finishing of the Inner Surface of Cobalt-Chromium Alloy Cardiovascular Stents Tube.

In this investigation, spherical Al2O3 magnetic abrasive particles (MAPs) were used to polish the inner surface of ultra-fine long cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent tubes. The magnetic abrasives were prepared by combining plasma molten metal powder and hard abrasives, and the magnetic abrasives prepared by this new method are characterized by high sphericity, narrow particle size distribution range, long life, and good economic value. Firstly, the spherical Al2O3 magnetic abrasives were prepared by the new method; secondly, the polishing machine for the inner surface of the ultra-fine long cardiovascular stent tubes was developed; finally, the influence laws of spindle speed, magnetic pole speed, MAP filling quantities, the magnetic pole gap on the surface roughness (Ra), and the removal thickness (RT) of tubes were investigated. The results showed that the prepared Al2O3 magnetic abrasives were spherical in shape, and their superficial layer was tightly bound with Al2O3 hard abrasives with sharp cutting; the use of spherical Al2O3 magnetic abrasives could achieve the polishing of the inner surface of ultra-fine cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular bracket tubes, and after processing, the inner surface roughness (Ra) of the tubes decreased from 0.337 µm to 0.09 µm and had an RT of 5.106 µm.

Polishing Characteristics of Cemented Carbide Using Cubic Boron Nitride Magnetic Abrasive Powders.

This paper describes the application of bonded magnetic abrasive powders (MAPs) in the magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) process. In order to improve the poor finishing performance and short service life of MAPs in polishing super-hard materials, a double-stage atomization technique was used to successfully manufacture MAPs with a CBN as an abrasive phase. The prepared results show that CBN abrasives with their original structure were deeply and densely embedded on the surface of spherical MAPs. Based on the MAF process, a five-level and four-factor central composite design experiment was carried out to verify the developed MAPs polishing performance on the finishing of cemented carbide parts (864 Hv). Working gap, rotational speed, feed rate of a workpiece, and mesh number of MAP were considered as influence factors. The analysis data was used to understand different interactions of significant parameters. A regression model for predicting the change of surface roughness was obtained, and the optimal parameter combination was figured out through a solution of a quadratic equation in Design-Expert software. According to MAF results, the strong cutting ability of atomized CBN MAPs improved the surface roughness of cemented carbide by over 80% at the optimum parameters. The strong cutting ability of atomized CBN MAPs can produce good surface quality on the hard materials. The findings of this research can promote a large-scale application of MAF technology in the surface polishing of hard materials.

Parametric Studies on Finishing of AZ31B Magnesium Alloy with Al2O3 Magnetic Abrasives Prepared by Combining Plasma Molten Metal Powder with Sprayed Abrasive Powder.

High-performance iron-based Al2O3 magnetic abrasive powder (MAP) prepared by combining plasma molten metal powder with sprayed abrasive powder is used for magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) of AZ31B magnesium alloy to remove surface defects such as creases, cracks, scratches, and pits generated during the manufacturing process of the workpiece, and to reduce surface roughness and improve its wear and corrosion resistance. In order to solve the problem of magnetic abrasive powder splash in the MAF process, the force analysis of the MAP in the processing area is conducted, and a composite magnetic pole processing device was designed and simulated to compare the effects of both devices on MAF, confirming the feasibility of composite magnetic pole grinding. Then, experiments have been designed using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) to investigate the effect of four factors-magnetic pole rotation speed, grinding gap, magnetic pole feed rate, magnetic abrasive filling quantity-on surface roughness and the interactions between them. The minimum surface roughness value that can be obtained is used as the index for parameter optimization, and the optimized parameters are used for experiments, and the results show that the established surface roughness model has good predictive ability.

Study on the Micro Removal Process of Inner Surface of Cobalt Chromium Alloy Cardiovascular Stent Tubes.

Due to the special manufacturing process of cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent tubes, there are serious surface defects in their inner walls, which affects the therapeutic effect after implantation. At the same time, the traditional processing technology cannot finish the inner wall of a cardiovascular stent tube. In light of the above problems, magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) equipment for the inner wall of an ultra-fine and ultra-long cardiovascular stent tube is proposed, and MAF technology is used to improve the surface quality of its inner wall. High-performance spherical magnetic abrasive powders are used to finish the inner wall of a cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent tube with an inner diameter of 1.6 mm and an outer diameter of 1.8 mm. The effects of finishing time, tube rotational speed, feed speed of the magnetic pole, MAPs filling quantity, and MAP abrasive size on the surface roughness and material removal thickness of cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent tube are investigated. The results show that the surface roughness of the inner wall of the cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent decreases from 0.485 µm to 0.101 µm, and the material removal thickness of the defect layer is 4.3 µm. MAF technology is used to solve the problem of the poor surface quality of the inner walls of ultra-fine and ultra-long cobalt-chromium alloy cardiovascular stent tubes.

Magneto-Rheological Fluid Assisted Abrasive Nanofinishing of ß-Phase Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr Alloy: Parametric Appraisal and Corrosion Analysis.

The present work explores the potential of magneto-rheological fluid assisted abrasive finishing (MRF-AF) for obtaining precise surface topography of an in-house developed ß-phase Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr (TNTZ) alloy for orthopedic applications. Investigations have been made to study the influence of the concentration of carbonyl iron particles (CIP), rotational speed (Nt), and working gap (Gp) in response to material removal (MR) and surface roughness (Ra) of the finished sample using a design of experimental technique. Further, the corrosion performance of the finished samples has also been analyzed through simulated body fluid (SBF) testing. It has been found that the selected input process parameters significantly influenced the observed MR and Ra values at 95% confidence level. Apart from this, it has been found that Gp and Nt exhibited the maximum contribution in the optimized values of the MR and Ra, respectively. Further, the corrosion analysis of the finished samples specified that the resistance against corrosion is a direct function of the surface finish. The morphological analysis of the corroded morphologies indicated that the rough sites of the implant surface have provided the nuclei for corrosion mechanics that ultimately resulted in the shredding of the appetite layer. Overall results highlighted that the MRF-AF is a potential technique for obtaining nano-scale finishing of the high-strength ß-phase Ti-Nb-Ta-Zr alloy.

Effect of Magnetic Head Shape on Processing of Titanium Alloy Wire by Magnetic Abrasive Finishing.

Titanium alloy wire is characterized by high specific strength, good corrosion resistance, high-temperature resistance and other excellent comprehensive performance. It has been widely used not only in aerospace, shipbuilding and other high-tech fields, but also increasingly in medical equipment, food safety and other fields. Because titanium alloy wire is relatively difficult to process, it has a large deformation resistance, good elasticity, high flexion ratio and more serious rebound. During the processing, adhesion problems may occur, thus reducing the surface quality. The magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) has good flexible machining characteristics. In this study, the rotating magnetic field was loaded on the titanium alloy wire, and the magnetic abrasive was absorbed by the magnetic field force to form a magnetic abrasive brush, so as to realize the precision processing of the titanium alloy wire. Under the same processing time, when the angle of the magnetic head was 37°, the surface roughness of titanium alloy wire was reduced to 0.28 µm by MAF, which improved the processing quality and efficiency of the titanium alloy wire.

Development of a New Ecological Magnetic Abrasive Tool for Finishing Bio-Wire Material.

This study proposes a new wire magnetic abrasive finishing (WMAF) process for finishing 316L SUS wire using ecological magnetic abrasive tools. 316L SUS wire is a biomaterial that is generally used in medical applications (e.g., coronary stent, orthodontics, and implantation). In medical applications of this material, a smooth surface is commonly required. Therefore, a new WMAF process using ecological magnetic abrasive tools was developed to improve the surface quality and physical properties of this biomaterial. In this study, the WMAF process of 316L SUS wire is separated into two finishing processes: (i) WMAF with ecological magnetic abrasive tools, and (ii) WMAF with industrial magnetic abrasive tools. The ecological magnetic abrasive tools consist of cuttlefish bone abrasives, olive oil, electrolytic iron powder, and diamond abrasive paste. The finishing characteristics of the two types of abrasive tools were also explored for different input parameters (i.e., vibrating magnetic field and rotating magnetic field). The results show that ecological magnetic abrasive tools can improve the initial surface roughness of 316L SUS wire from 0.23 µm to 0.06 µm. It can be concluded that ecological magnetic abrasive tools can replace industrial magnetic abrasive tools.

Development of a New Ultra-High-Precision Magnetic Abrasive Finishing for Wire Material Using a Rotating Magnetic Field.

In this paper, we propose a new ultra-high-precision magnetic abrasive finishing method for wire material which is considered to be difficult with the existing finishing process. The processing method uses a rotating magnetic field system with unbonded magnetic abrasive type. It is believed that this process can efficiently perform the ultra-high-precision finishing for producing a smooth surface finish and removing a diameter of wire material. For such a processing improvement, the following parameters are considered; rotational speed of rotating magnetic field, vibration frequency of wire material, and unbonded magnetic abrasive grain size. In order to evaluate the performance of the new finishing process for the wire material, the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) 1085 steel wire was used as the wire workpiece. The experimental results showed that the original surface roughness of AISI 1085 steel wire was enhanced from 0.25 µm to 0.02 µm for 60 s at 800 rpm of rotational speed. Also, the performance of the removed diameter was excellent. As the result, a new ultra-high-precision magnetic abrasive finishing using a rotating magnetic field with unbonded magnetic abrasive type could be successfully adopted for improving the surface roughness and removing the diameter of AISI 1085 steel wire material.