Development and Evaluation of Advanced Abrasive Flow Machining Technique

Enhancing Efficiency and Capabilities of Advanced Abrasive Flow Machining

Abstract

Advancement in material sciences has led to the development of smartengineering materials viz. composites, ceramics, polymers and super-alloys.These materials find exhaustive use in modern manufacturing industries,especially, in aircraft, automobiles, cutting tools, die and mold makingindustries. Higher costs associated with the machining of these materialsbesides stringent design requirements, which include precision machining ofcomplex and complicated shapes and/or sizes, machining of inaccessible areas atmicro or nano levels with tight tolerances are the major limitations which haveled to the development of newer advanced non-traditional machining processes.Abrasive flow machining (AFM) is a novel technique having potential to providehigh precision and economical means of finishing inaccessible areas and complexinternal passages on otherwise difficult to machine material and components.AFM has been likened to a semi-solid flowing file wherein the media acts as aflexible cutting tool whenever it is subjected to any restriction; and perhapsits greatest advantage lies in its ability to finish, deburr, polish, radiusand removing the recasted layers from complex internal passages or areas thatare inaccessible to more traditional methods such as mechanical honing. The vast potential applications and capabilities of the AFM processattract the attention of machinists and make it imperative upon researchers toovercome the major limitations of the process. The present research initiativeidentifies the limitations and gaps through exhaustive review of publishedliterature on AFM technique with the intent to explore the possibilities forimproving the efficiency and capabilities of the process/technique. It has beenrecognized that very few research studies have been conducted on theoptimization of the process parameters for enhanced quality characteristics.Therefore, it is required to study the AFMed surfaces to get more insight intothe real interaction between flowing abrasive particles