Theoretical investigations into magnetorheological finishing of external cylindrical surfaces for improved performance

Abstract

Fine finishing entails increased percentage contact area, less friction, and less wear. The magnetorheological finishing is a precision process to obtain the fine finishing on the workpiece surface for improved functional applications. So, the rotary rectangular core-based magnetorheological finishing process is utilized for the precise finishing of the cylindrical external surfaces. The rotary-rectangular shaped tool core tip surface provides the uniformly magnetic flux concentration that further benefit to offer the uniform fine finishing on the cylindrical work-part's external surface. In this work, a theoretical model is developed to predict the reduction in the surface asperities during the magnetorheological finishing of the external cylindrical surfaces. The rotational speed of the rectangular tool core on the rotating cylindrical work-part enhances the relative speed of active abrasives, which decreases the pitch, helix angle, and increases the helical path length. These results enhance the uniform precise finishing on the cylindrical work-parts and also enhances the process performance. For validation of the theoretical roughness model, the experiments have been performed on the cylindrical external surface of the H13 die steel workpiece. The percentage error between the experimentally obtained Ra value and theoretical Ra value is found to be −4.76% to 3.06%, which shows the good agreement between the theoretical model and experimental results. It also shows the practicality and accuracy of the present process while finishing the H13 die steel and it is useful for many industrial applications.