International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.

4, November 2013

A NOVEL APPROACH FOR FINISHING INTERNAL

COMPLEX FEATURES USING DEVELOPED ABRASIVE
FLOW FINISHING MACHINE
Somashekhar S. Hiremath1 Vidyadhar H. M.2 and Makaram Singaperumal3
1,3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras,
Chennai-600036, Tamil Nadu. INDIA.
2
Mechanical Engineer, Purchase in charge, Dubai Aluminium (DUBAL),
Jebel Ali, Dubai, UAE.

ABSTRACT
Manufacturing processes converts the raw materials into functionally usable goods. This conversion
process adds value to them. Over the last few years, surface machining has assumed a greater importance
in manufacturing. In recent years, surfaces are being engineered to make surface texture more suitable to
the required specified functions. Finish machining of the external surfaces and easily accessible internal
surfaces to specification can be accomplished by traditional processes. However, with the exception of
lapping, most of these processes are nonflexible in nature and cannot access internal surfaces of intricate
shapes. For this type of problems extrusion honing can be a viable solution. Extrusion honing is a process
to deburr, polish and radius difficult-to-reach surfaces. The process can be applied to an impressive range
of finishing operations that provide uniform, repeatable, predictable results. In this process, the small
quantities of work material are removed by flowing semi solid, abrasive dispersed putty, under pressure
through or across workpiece material. Abrasive flow machining was developed in 1960s as a method to
deburr, polish, and radius difficult to reach surfaces with required surface finish. So in this paper an
attempt has been made to develop a prototype model of a Abrasive Flow Machine (AFM) with various
sensors to monitor process parameters. Experimentation was carried out on various engineering materials
and studied the quality characteristics-surface finish achieved on various kinds of workpieces. It was shown
that a very high surface finish is achieved as the experiments were carried out for more number of passes
and even small intricate cavities available on internal surface of the workpiece was machined to high
quality surface finish. Also the obtained results show that this process completely removes all traces of
thermal recast layers remaining after spark erosion processes.

KEYWORDS
Abrasive Flow Machine, Carrier Medium, Viscoelastic Polymer,Surface Roughness and Characterization

1. INTRODUCTION
Abrasive finishing processes use a large number of multi point or random cutting edges for
effective removal of material at smaller chip sizes than in the finishing methods that use defined
cutting edges. Machining at small chip sizes allows improved surface finish, closer tolerances,
more localised control, generation of more intricate surface features. For producing small chip
sizes, abrasive processes are more suitable than processes with defined cutting edges. By mixing
abrasive grains with some bond material or matrix material small cutting edges can be delivered
directly to the machining area. The ability of the abrasive processes to produce closer tolerances
has enhanced product performance; greater consistency of the processes has made it more
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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

amenable to control and thereby less rejection and faster production rates. Grinding, honing,
superfinishing, lapping, polishing and buffing etc. can be grouped under this category.

Abrasive finishing processes involves the interaction of abrasive grits with the workpiece at
shallow/superficial penetration depth. Development of artificial abrasives and a better
understanding of the abrasive processes have resulted in placing these processes among the most
important of all basic machining processes. Abrasive machining processes have two distinctive
characteristics. First, each cutting edge is very small, and many of these cutting edges can cut
simultaneously. With suitable machines very fine surfaces can be produced to closer tolerances.
Second, since very hard abrasives can be produced, hard work materials can readily be machined.
Hence these processes are not only important as manufacturing processes, but also certainly
indispensable. Products like modern machine tools, automobiles, space vehicles, and so on,
cannot be manufactured without these processes. Grinding can be a semi finishing process /
occasionally even roughing process.

Honing, super-finishing and lapping process use abrasive in different form. The material removal
in this process is by shearing action of the abrasive. The honing process is generally applied to
internal cylinder surfaces, but sometime on few external surfaces also as a finishing operation.
Bonded abrasive sticks /stones known as honing tool are fitted on the honing shoe of a mandrel
called honing head. The honing tool is subjected to simultaneous action of rotation, reciprocation
and expansion in radial direction resulting in grooves with crosshatch lay surface texture. The
ratio of reciprocation speed to rotational speed decides the crosshatch lay pattern which is
referred as honing angle. Honing angle of about 300° to 600° is reported to have better fluid
retention properties. It provides a fine roughness of the order of 0.5 µm Ra. Typical component
finished by honing are cylinder liners, engine blocks, hydraulic cylinder bores, compressor
cylinder bores, connecting rods, fuel injector, bearings, hydraulic brake drums.

A study on conventional honing process reveals a number of practical difficulties in machining an

inclined and complicated feature. The search for a better option reached in which a abrasive
mixed polymer media for removing the material in the form of small debris to obtain a smooth
finish. Extrusion honing process was born as aerospace application about 30 years back. It was
developed by extrude hone corporation of USA for finishing aerospace components such as
critical aircraft hydraulic and fuel system components. Since then, it has been a field of intense
research by many people. The abrasive action of medium was reported [1]. When the abrasive
media is forced into a restrictive passage, the polymeric carrier viscosity temporarily increases
which momentarily holds the abrasive grains rigidly in place. They abrade the passages only
when the matrix is in this thicker viscous state. The influencing factors of the process as extrusion
pressure, volume of media flow, grit composition and type, work material are studied and
presented in the obtained results [2]. This process polishes internal passages of cast automotive
heads and manifolds that provide uniform, streamlined flow paths within the head and manifold
[3]. Streamlining and directional surface finish lay produced by the process enhances the passage
flow efficiency and fuel efficiency in turn economy of engine application [4]. Also the process is
extended to study the usefulness of the process in finishing the components produced by
stereolithography [5]. Abrasive flow machining was identified in 1960s as a method to deburr,
polish, and radius difficult to reach surfaces and edges by flowing an abrasive laden viscoplastic
polymer medium over them. The medium should have bonding strength, compatibility, higher
abrasive exposure, stabilization of formulation, thickening efficiency and ease of processing. The
viscosity of polymeric medium plays an important role in finishing operation [6].

Hence the proposed paper is planned with an objective of characterizing the AFM surfaces and
evaluation of process parameters. In this paper an attempt has been made to develop a prototype
model of AFM with various sensors to monitor process parameters and experimentation was
carried out on various engineering materials machined previously with conventional machine
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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

tools like CNC machining centers and studied the quality characteristics-surface finish achieved
on various workpieces. The present paper contains the results obtained during the machining of
one of the precision aerospace component nitralloy collar sleeve.

2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP

Figure 1 shows the schematic diagram of the developed experimental setup of abrasive flow
machine basically consists of two abrasive slurry cylinders and two hydraulic cylinders. The two
abrasive cylinders are connected with flexible steel hose pipe to feed the abrasive slurry exiting
from the bottom cylinders to top cylinder to ensure the continuous machining at the cylinders. It
will reduce the time for feeding the cylinders and hence it will increase the productivity of the
system. The hydraulic cylinders are drive through the power pack to give the linear movement to
push the abrasive slurry present in the slurry cylinders through the workpieces to be machined. To
monitor the hydraulic cylinder positions at extreme ends, limit switches are mounted on hydraulic
cylinders: LS1 to LS2 on hydraulic cylinder 1 and LS3 and LS4 on hydraulic cylinder 2. These
limit switches are very much essential for cylinder synchronization-extension and retraction of
hydraulic cylinders in turn controls the abrasive cylinders 1 and 2. Abrasive impregnated
polymeric medium with different volume fraction and abrasive mesh size is employed in the
current study. The workpieces are rigidly held between the designed work fixtures at the exit of
abrasive cylinders.

A 4/3 solenoid operated closed centre direction control valves are used to control the direction of
fluid flow into the hydraulic cylinders 1 and 2, so as to reverse the forward and return strokes
which in turn control the direction of the abrasive slurry cylinders 1 and 2. Pressure gauges are
mounted on the hydraulic cylinders to monitor the pressure variations during the machining
operation. The measuring scale is also mounted on the hydraulic cylinders to monitor the stroke
length of the hydraulic cylinder. The speeds of the hydraulic cylinders are controlled through a
flow control valve.

Figure 1. Schematic diagram of developed abrasive flow machine

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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

At most care is taken to connect two hydraulic cylinders to operate in a sequential manner. That is
when the hydraulic cylinder 1 extends (it moves from LS1 to LS2) and pushes the abrasive media
present in the abrasive cylinder 1 and it will comes out in the all the direction along the
cavities/holes present on the workpiece mounted at the exit of abrasive slurry cylinder 1. The
pushed abrasive media along with debris machined will fall in the bottom slurry cylinders through
gravity. After hydraulic cylinder 1 reaches the limit switch position LS2 and immediately it will
retract back to position LS1. Now the hydraulic cylinder 2 extends (it moves from LS3 to LS4)
and pushes the abrasive media present in the abrasive cylinder 2 and it will comes out in all the
direction along the cavities/holes present on the workpiece mounted at the exit of abrasive slurry
cylinder 2 and abrasive slurry will pass through the flexible pipe to the inlet of abrasive slurry
cylinders 1. As hydraulic cylinder 2 reaches the limit switch position LS4, hydraulic cylinder 1 is
in action and cycle repeats.

Figure 2 shows the photographic view of the developed experimental setup of abrasive flow
machine and the enlarged view showing the flow of abrasive media through the workpieces
having various intricate cavities and holes during the machining process.

Abrasive Cylinder 1 Flexible Hydraulic Cylinder 1

Hose
A
Workpiece

B
Hopper
Enlarged view at A & B showing
the flow of abrasive medium

Abrasive Cylinder 2
A B

Hydraulic Cylinder 2

Figure 2. Experimental setup of developed abrasive flow machine

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Preliminary experiments are carried out to study the individual stage of abrasive flow machining
operations and to arrive at the selection of process parameters. Parameters that are used to
characterize measurements of surface topography are defined almost entirely in terms of the
profile signal generated by stylus type measuring instruments. Methods that characterise surface
roughness ideally need to embody an assessment of the height (amplitude) and the spatial (wave
length) characteristics of the topography of a specimen [7]. In the present study the parameters of
interest on the quality of surface finish produced on the workpiece are Ra, Rmax, and Rz values.
In the present paper the results concerning to the machining operation carried out on one of the
aerospace component nitralloy collar sleeve made with AISI 1117 material having HRC 24-30
(shown in Figure 2). Initially the component was machined with 5-axis CNC machine and
measured the surface characteristics- Ra, Rmax and Rz values. Later the component is machined
with the developed AFM with number of passes. The machining operations are carried out with a
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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

pressure of 22 kg/cm2, abrasive concentration 40% in the medium and velocity of the slurry
comes out of the component at 0.93 m/min. The time required to complete one pass was found to
be 20 minutes. After machining the components with required number of passes, they are cleaned
with cleaning agent acetone and then measured the roughness values using perthometer.
Traversing length 5 mm is used to evaluate the surface roughness. The care should be taken to
measure the surface characteristics for every 3rd and 6th passes. Figure 3 shows the variation in
surface characteristic- surface roughness Ra with number of passes at different locations on the
machined piece. As the number of passes increases there is a drastic reduction in Ra value is seen
from the Figure 3. Figure 4 and Figure 5 shows the Rmax and Rz values measured at different
locations.

Table 1 shows the complete list of parameters measured on the sleeve component for different
passes. From the obtained results it is seen that there is a progressive reduction in Ra, Rz and
Rmax values as the number of passes increases. It is also seen that only marginal improvement in
the surface texture beyond 6th passes.

An attempt has been made to show this process is very much efficient to remove the recast layer
formed during electro discharge machining process. Figure 6 shows the effect of abrasive flow
machining to remove the recast layer as formed during the electro discharge machining process.
As the number of passes increases the recast layer will completely removes from the work
surface.

Figure 3. Number of passes vs. surface roughness characteristic -Ra value

Figure 4. Number of passes vs. surface roughness characteristic -Rmax value

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International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

Figure 5. Number of passes vs. surface roughness characteristic -Rz value

Table 1. Surface roughness values at different stages of AFM with Nitroalloy Collar

(a) Before AFM (b) After 6 passes (c) After 12 passes

Figure 6. Lay pattern of recast layer after 6th and 12th passes in abrasive flow machining

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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

4. CONCLUSIONS

Abrasive flow machining is relatively a new non-traditional machining process which is being
used to deburr, polish, radius, remove recast layers, or to produce compressive residual stresses in
a wide range of applications.

So for finishing of inaccessible surfaces, most suitable and viable method known as abrasive flow
machining used to produce a super finish on various components made with newer engineering
materials used in industry, aerospace and defence applications.

The following are the major contributions and conclusions drawn from the study:

• An attempt has been made to develop an experimental setup of abrasive flow machine
used to machine various components having intricate profiles and inaccessible areas
efficiently and effectively
• The machining operation was carried out with one of the aerospace precision component
nitralloy collar sleeve and the obtained results show the progressive reduction in Ra value
with number of passes and also there is a visible/drastic reduction in Ra, Rz and Rmax
values as the number of passes increases. It is also seen that only marginal improvement
in the surface texture beyond 6th passes.
• Also an attempt has been made to show this process is very much efficient to remove the
recast layer formed during electro discharge machining process

REFERENCES

[1] L. J. Rhoades and H. A. Clouser (1991) “Abrasive Flow Machining”, ASM Metals Handbook, Vol.
16, pp. 514-519.
[2] R. E. Williams and K. P. Rajurker (1992) “Stochastic Modeling and of analysis of abrasive flow
machining” Trans. ASME. Journal of Engineering for industry, Vol. 144, pp. 74-81.
[3] L. Brooke (1998) “More air flow for ford’s SVT V-6”, Automotive Industries, pp. 147-148.
[4] R. E. Williams (1999) “Acoustic emmision chatacteristics of abrasive flow machine”, Trans.
ASME. Journal of manufacturing science and engineering, Vol.120, pp. 264-271.
[5] R. E. Williams and V. L. Melton (1998) “Abrasive flow finishing of stereolithography prototype”,
Journal of rapid prototyping. 4(2), pp. 56-67.
[6] Jain, V. K., Ranganath, C., Murlidhar. K. (2001), “Evaluation of rheological properties of medium
for AFM process”, Machining science and Technology, Vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 151-170.
[7] I. Sherrington and E. H. Smith (1997) “Parameters for characterising the surface topography of
engineering components”, Proc. Instn mech. Engrs., Part C: journal of mechanical engineering
sciences, Vol. 201, pp. 297-306.

Authors

Somashekhar S. Hiremath works as an Associate Professor and Head, Precision

Engineering and Instrumentation Laboratory of Department of Mechanical Engineering
at Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He received the
Doctoral Degree in 2004 from Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, Tamil
Nadu, India. As an academic credential he received Two National Awards: Innovative
Student Project Award 2005 (Best PhD Thesis of the year 2004–2005 in the Department
of Mechanical Engineering) from the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), New Delhi and
Prof. K. Arumugam National Award for Innovative Research Work in Engineering and Technology from
Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE), New Delhi. He has published many papers in National
and International level. More than 100 papers in his credits. He was delivered more than 60 Invited talks
on various topics of his research areas at Engineering Colleges, Universities, Research centres, Industries
and conferences. Currently he has handling many Consultancy and Sponsored Projects of various
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 International Journal of Recent advances in Mechanical Engineering (IJMECH) Vol.2, No.4, November 2013

industries and R&D institutions of Defence, Government of India. His Current Research Areas are
Mechatronic System Design-System Simulation and Modelling, Robotics, Finite Element Modelling -
basically Fluid Structure Interactions, Micromachining, Advanced machining processes – basically Hybrid
Processes. He was guided 1 Ph. D. and 2 MS Thesis. Currently 5 Ph.D. Scholars and 2 MS Scholars are
working under his guidance. Last but not the least he is a Member of Many Professional Bodies like Fluid
Power Society, American Society for Precision Engineering and European Society for Precision
Engineering and Nanotechnology (EUSPEN), Indian Society for Technical Education

Vidyadhar H M works as a purchase in charge since from 2004 at Dubai Aluminium

(DUBAL), located in Jebel Ali, Dubai is one of the largest industrial companies in the
UAE. He received the BE degree in Mechanical Engineering from Mysore University in
the year 1990. After graduation he joined Bharath Earth Movers Limited, Kolar Gold
Fields, Karnataka, India as a Engineer Planning and Purchase and has contributed in
development of critical mechanical engineering components by gaining advancing supply chain
knowledge and its application to solve real-world problems. He has overcome many supply chain
management challenges during his service at BEML for span 12 Years. Currently his focus is to build
Supplier Relationship Management for gaining significant momentum and leverage to bring significant
value addition by deployment of right business process and technology.

M. Singaperumal received his BE degree in Mechanical Engineering in 1969, M.Tech

degree in Machine Design in 1976 and Ph.D. in Fluid Power from Indian Institute of
Technology Madras in 1984. Currently, he is an Emeritus Professor in Precision
Engineering and Instrumentation Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering at
the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai, India. He has published many papers
in international journals and guided many MS and Ph.D scholars in the field of fluid
power, oil hydraulics, robotics, and Mechatronics. His current research interest includes hydraulic hybrids,
underwater robotics, networked robotics, robot calibration, mechatronics, MEMS, micromachining, and oil
hydraulics.

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