ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013

To Study the Effect of Various Parameters on

Magnetic Abrasive Finishing
1
1,2

Mithlesh Sharma, 2Devinder Pal Singh

Dept. of ME, Institute of Engg. and Tech., Bhaddal, Ropar, Punjab, India

Abstract
Magnetic Abrasive Finishing (MAF) process is the one in which
material is removed in such a way that surface finishing and
deburring are performed simultaneously with the applied magnetic
field in the finishing zone. In this research Paper, a SS 305, SS 316
and brass cylindrical work piece was finished using a magnetic
abrasive finishing process at different speed, magnetic flux
density ,hardness and work piece gap and corresponding to these
parameter improvement in surface finish is investigated. The aim
of this paper is to study maximum efficiency in terms of material
removal rate. Magnetic abrasive finishing as an efficient tool for
internal finishing of bent tubes. In this research a cylindrical work
pieces was finish using a magnetic abrasive finishing process on
a apparatus developed for carrying out testing work. The process
principle and the finishing characteristics of magnetic abrasive
finishing of cylindrical pipes using sintered magnetic abrasives are
described in this research work. The sintered magnetic abrasive
is a mixture of Al2O3 abrasive and ferromagnetic particles. The
Al2O3 based sintered magnetic abrasives have been developed
in sintering machine.
The process parameters were the gap between work piece and
magnet, rotational speed of work piece, magnetic flux density,
hardness and the work piece gap. The improvement of surface
roughness was achieved because the vibrational motion effectively
removes unevenness in rotational direction and direction orthogonal
to it.
Keywords
Magnetic Abrasive Finishing; Sintering; Surface Roughness,
Roundness, Percentage Improvement in Surface Finish
I. Introduction
High technology industries require ultraclean smooth finished
surfaces for their critical applications. Liquid piping systems, vacuum
tubes, sanitary tubes, high purity gas tubes and Pharmaceutical
industries require smooth finished Inner pipe surface to prevent the
Contamination of gas and liquid. But polishing of such surfaces
involves high cost and Controlled atmosphere during polishing.
To meet the requirements of the industry new Methods are being
developed continuously. Magnetic abrasive finishing is one of such
Method which uses a controlled magnetic force to finish surfaces.
In magnetic abrasive Finishing, a cutting tool that consists of
iron particles and abrasives is flexible in nature. To minimize the
surface damage, gentle/flexible finishing conditions are required,
namely, a low level of controlled force. Magnetic field assisted
manufacturing processes are becoming effective in finishing,
cleaning, deburring and burnishing of metal and advanced
engineering material parts. Magnetic Abrasive Finishing (MAF)
is one of the non conventional machining processes which came
to the surface in 1938 in a patent by Harry P.Coats. The countries
which are involved in the study and development of this process
are USA, CIS, France, England, Bulgaria, Japan and Germany.
In modern time, fine surface finish applications. A relatively
new finishing advanced machining process in which cutting
force is primarily controlled by the magnetic field. A magnetic

212

Abrasive Finishing (MAF) process is the one in which material

is removed in such a way that surface finishing and deburring
are performed simultaneously with the applied magnetic field in
the finishing zone and it can achieve highly finished surfaces that
conventional techniques MAF is a fine finishing technique which
can be employed to produce optical, mechanical, and electronic
components with micrometer or sub micro meter form accuracy
and surface roughness within nanometer range with hardly any
surface defects. Finishing of bearings, precision automotive
components, shafts, and artificial hip joints made of oxide ceramic
and cobalt alloy are some of the products for which this process
can be applied. A magnetic abrasive finishing process is a non
traditional process that employs magnetic field action and mixed
magnetic abrasives (2-5).
II. Principles of Internal Finishing
Figure 1 shows a schematic of internal magnetic abrasive finishing
process using a stationary pole system. Magnetic abrasives
introduced into the pipe are conglomerated at the finishing zone
by a magnetic field, generating the finishing force against the inner
surface of the tube. In the process, magnetic abrasive particles
introduced into the work piece are attracted by the magnetic field
and bear on the inner surface of the work piece. These particles join
each other along the lines of magnetic force due to dipoledipole
interaction and form a Flexible Magnetic Abrasive Brush (FMAB)
which pushes against the work piece surface and develops finishing
pressure. This finishing pressure originates micro indentations in
the work piece surface. The tangential force developed by FMAB
is the major cutting force responsible for micro chipping. Abrasives
generally rely upon a difference in hardness between the abrasive
and the material being worked upon, the abrasive being the harder
of the two substances. In MAF operation, work piece is kept
between the two magnets. The magnetic poles N & S were placed
face to face with their axes crossing at right angle with a brass
pipein the configuration as shown in figure 1.The Magnetic field
extends in the inner region of the pipe without regard to presence
and absence of the pipe to the machined and actuates magnetic
force to magnetic abrasive particles packed inside pipe. Abrasive
particles can be used as unbonded, loosely bonded or bonded.
Bonded magnetic abrasive particles are prepared by sintering
of ferromagnetic powder (iron) and abrasive powder (Al2O3)
at a very high pressure and Manufacturing process employed
determines surface finish level. Some processes are inherently
capable of producing better surfaces than others. The processes
recognized for good surface finish are honing, lapping, polishing
and surface finishing. Tolerance and range of surface roughness
produced by different processes are given below.
Table 1: Tolerance and Range of Surface Roughness by Various
Process
Process
Grinding
Lapping
Honing
Super finishing

International Journal of Research in Mechanical Engineering & Technology

Tolerance (mm)
0.008
0.005
0.005
0.003

Roughness (m)
5 to 75
2 to 15
4 to 30
1 to 10
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IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013

ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

designing. The objective of the design is to give rotational motion

to the cylindrical work piece. The work piece is rotated at 80, 95
and 170 rpm. A DC motor is chosen for providing rotational motion
to the work piece. A schematic view of the setup is shown in the
figure. Magnetic abrasive particles through magnetic pressure
finish the work piece. Al2O3 based sintered magnetic abrasives
are used as magnetic abrasives.

Fig. 1: Pictorial View of Magnetic Abrasive Machining

Appararatus
III. Experimental Setup
A schematic of experimental set up is shown in fig. 1 and 2,
which embodies the principles of internal finishing described in the
previous section. The experimental setup has major components
like electromagnet (10 k Gauss), control unit, d.c. motor, variable
D.C. supply.

IV. Experimental Conditions

In this work Al2O3 based sintered magnetic abrasives were used
for internal finishing of cylindrical SS305, SS316 and brass pipes.
The Alumina (Al2O3) based sintered magnetic abrasives were
prepared by blending of Al2O3 (10%) of 300 mesh size (74 m)
and iron powders (90%) of 300 mesh size (51.4m)), compacting
them by a Universal Testing Machine (UTM), sintering the mixture
in a sintering set up at 1100C in H2 gas environment, crushing the
compacts into small particles and then sieving to different ranges
of sizes. The obtained sizes are 120m, 200m, 300m, 420 m.
The experimental conditions are shown in table no.2 Cylindrical
Brass, SS305 and SS316 pipes (18 x60mm) were used for the
experiments as work pieces. In this work, experimental variables
such as magnetic flux density, revolution, gap between work piece
and pole and work piece hardness were considered. The finishing
characteristics of magnetic abrasives were analyzed by measuring
the surface roughness, which was measured at four points before
and after finishing using a Mitutoyo surface roughness tester (SJ210P) having a least count of 0.001 m (cut off length = 0.8 mm)
and averaged.
Table 2: Experimental Conditions Work Piece
Abrasive grain size
Magnetic pole
Work piece
Revolution
Magnetic abrasives
Magnetic flux density
Gap between work piece
and pole
Work piece hardness
Machining duration

Fig. 2: Pictorial View of Magnetic Abrasive Machining

Mechanism
The main elements of MAF equipment include the electromagnet
(10 k Gauss), variable D.C. supply and abrasive powder (Sintered
Al2O3 + Fe). The cylindrical work piece i.e. SS305 ,SS316 and
brass pipe, was held in the chuck attached to D.C. motor and
abrasives were packed in the pipe and over the and on one end cap
is provided with the help of dead centre to kept the abrasive inside
of pipe. Magnetic field was applied to the abrasives by electro
magnet. Magnetic field strength is varied for experimentation
with the help of variable D.C. supply. Electromagnet plays and
important role in present experimentation. The space between
work piece and electromagnet is kept constant. The magnetic field
strength depends upon weight percentage of the magnetic particles,
present in the magnetic abrasive powder. Both the working gap
and size of the work piece are taken into consideration, while
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120,150 and 220 grits (106,

75 and 53 m)
SS 400:Material
SS 304,SS316 and Brass tubes
80, 95 and 170 rpm
Aluminium oxide Al2O3
Ferrite particles 30g
3000, 4000 and 5000 gauss
2,3 and 4 mm
45, 50 and 55 RC
60, 90, 120 min

V. Results and Discussions

To establish the feasibility of usage of MAM, the experiments
were conducted by selecting the process parameters based on
the findings of trial runs and some of the parameters influence is
discussed below. Influence of work piece circumferential speed on
surface finish Fig. 3 shows the effect of work piece circumferential
speed on surface finish. In this study, the rotational speeds of 80,
95 and 170 rpm and the duration of machining of 60 minutes were
experimented. It can be seen that the improvement in surface
finish is more with higher rotational speed. The improvement in
surface finish can be due to more abrasives that come in contact
with the work piece during high speed.

International Journal of Research in Mechanical Engineering & Technology 213

ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013

0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
0

Effect of workpiece gap

on surface finish
Improvement of surface finish ,( m)

Improvement of surface finish

,(m)

Effect of workpiece
speed on surface finish
SS304
SS316
70

95

170

BRASS

Speed,RPM

Fig. 3: Graph Showing Effect of Speed on Improvement of Surface

Finish

Improvement surface finish,(m.Ra)

SS304
SS316
BRASS
0.3

0.4

0.5

Magnetic flux Density (T)

Fig. 4: Graph Showing Effect of Magnetic Flux Density on

Improvement of Surface Finish
Influence of gap between work piece and magnetic pole on surface
finish
Fig. 5, illustrates the effect of gap between the work piece and the
magnetic poles on work surface finish. The gap considered for the
experimentation was 4, 6 and 5 mm and the machining duration
was 60 minutes. It can be seen that the work piece clearance of
5mm with Al2O3 abrasive grit contributed to an improvement in
surface finish. Similar trend was noticed with SiC grits also.

214

0.2

SS304

0.1

SS316
BRASS

0
4

Work piece gap (mm)

Effect of workpiece
hardness on surface finish

Effect of magnetic flux

density on surface finish
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0

0.3

Fig. 5: Graph Showing Effect of Work Piece on Improvement of

Surface Finish

Improvement in surface finish ,( m.Ra)

A. Influence of Magnetic Flux Density (MFD)

On surface finish fig. 4, illustrates the effect of magnetic flux
density on surface finish. The flux density used in the experiments
was 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5 tesla (T) and the machining duration was 60
minutes. From the results, it can be noticed that the increase in flux
density reduced the improvement in surface finish this could be due
to the abrasives with high magnetic field density, the movement
of the abrasives is also redirected in the machining zone.

0.4

0.45
0.4
0.35
0.3
0.25
0.2
0.15
0.1
0.05
0

SS304
SS316
BRASS
45

50

55

Work piece Hardness (Rc)

Fig. 6 Graph Showing Effect of Speed on Improvement of Surface

Finish
B. Influence of Work Piece Hardness on Surface Finish
Fig. 6 illustrates the effect of work piece hardness after a machining
duration of 60 minutes. Turned work pieces hardened to 45, 50
and 55 RC and ground to 0.2 to 0.6 m Ra are considered for this
study. Large improvement in the finish is noticed on work piece
with a hardness of 55 RC with Al2O3and ferrite abrasives.
A number of trials were conducted with various types of machined
surfaces such as turned, ground specimen to ascertain the feasibility
of this system for polishing the work surface.
VI. Conclusion
The conclusions of this research work are as follows:
1. This research work showed the feasibility of using Al2O3 based
sintered magnetic abrasive particles for the internal finishing
of cylindrical brass, SS305 and SS316 pipes and gained an
understanding of the mechanism involved.

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IJRMET Vol. 3, Issue 2, May - Oct 2013

ISSN : 2249-5762 (Online) | ISSN : 2249-5770 (Print)

2. The process of Magnetic Abrasive Machining (MAM) for

polishing of cylindrical work piece was developed using available
abrasives. A machining setup was developed using a apparatus . The
lathe was modified to accommodate a heavy-duty electromagnet
on the carriage in place of tool post and a work piece holding
mandrel was supported between the chuck and the tailstock.
The experimentation with these process parameters reduced the
surface roughness value on a cylindrical component from an initial
Ra value of 0.257m to 0.075m Ra over a machining duration
of 3 minutes with Aluminium Oxide, 220 grit semi magnetic
abrasives. These studies also indicated the need to consider the
work piece initial roughness, apart from its hardness for achieving
an improved finish on the work surface. From these studies it was
clear that work piece having initial roughness around 0.4m Ra
is found to give a significant improvement in surface finish with
semi magnetic abrasive machining.
3. Study shows that on various parameters improvement in
surface finish is maximum n case of brass as compared to other
materials.
V. Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to all the faculty and staff members of the
M.S ENGG Works ,Nangal. for providing me necessary facilities.
The co-operation attitude of all the laboratory technicians and
attendants of this department is worth appreciating. The authors
wish to thank Mr. A.K Sharma who had conducted all the
mechanical tests at their organization.
VI. Future Scope
In addition to the present work further work can be done in
following directions:
1. The effect of then surface roughness,roundness, microdiameter change, and removed weight can be investigated
and analyzed.
2. Study can be conducted further for finding out the optimum
range of various parameters to find maximum improvement
in surface finish.
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