Experimental, Theoretical, and Simulation Comparative Study of Nano Surface Roughness Generated During Abrasive Flow Finishing Process

Abrasive flow finishing (AFF) is one of the advanced finishing processes used mainly for finishing of complex surface features. Nano finishing of aluminum alloys is difficult using conventional finishing processes because of its soft nature. So, in this work, aluminum alloys are finished using AFF process. Since the finishing is carried out using polymer rheological abrasive medium (medium), the finishing forces on aluminum alloy workpieces are too low compared to conventional finishing processes. Thus, this process generates nano surface roughness on aluminum alloy. By using the theoretical model, change in surface roughness (ΔR_a) with respect to various AFF input parameters is studied. A new simulation model is proposed in this paper to predict the finishing forces and ΔR_a during AFF process. Modeling of finishing forces generated during the AFF process is carried out using ansys polyflow. These forces are used as input in the simulation model to predict ΔR_a. Medium rheology decides the magnitude of the generated finishing forces in AFF process. Therefore, to predict the forces accurately, rheological properties of the medium are measured experimentally and used as input during modeling. Further, to make the simulation more realistic, abrasive particle bluntness with respect to extrusion pressure and number of strokes is considered. Because of considering these realistic conditions, simulation and experimental results are in better agreement compared to theoretical results.