COMPARATIVE EVALUATION OF MAGNETIC ABRASIVE FINISHING AND BUFFING By Rajwinder Singh,Production
Abstract
Magnetic Abrasive Finishing (MAF) Process is one of advanced fine machining techniques in the category of Non -Conventional Machining Processes. In MAF, a relative motion is given to the work piece or to magnetic poles. The cutting force is provided and controlled with the help of magnetic flux, distance between electromagnetic poles and magnetic abrasives. The conventional process such as fine grinding, buffing are commonly used in industry for finishing of surfaces. Industrial pollution, Noise and Dust, Health hazards, more power consumption etc. are some of the undesirable factors which involve with the conventional machining processes. In spite of the remarkable results of the MAF for metal finishing, this process is least explored in Indian Industry. The reason may be due to lack of awareness about the effectiveness of the process. Literature available on the process indicates that considerable research work has been reported on the optimization of the process parameters and some other aspects. As regards to comparative evaluation of MAF with existing processes of finishing, negligible information is available in the literature. In the present work, MAF has been compared with Buffing process which is mostly used for finishing purposes. An actual component of Brass being manufactured in the industry has been chosen and experiments were performed to check the performance of MAF considering required quality aspects of the component. The results of this thesis work indicate that MAF may be used as an alternative process in place of Buffing which creates poor working conditions at shop floor. For the same quality charterisitics, MAF comes out to be economical (less power consumption), safe (decrease in rotation speed of equipment) and clean (dust free) process.
