Studying Surface Roughness in Abrasive Flow

Finishing of complex, miniaturized parts, especially of internal recesses is very difficult and time consuming process. Abrasive Flow Machining (AFM) is an appropriate finishing process for such finishing requirements. It uses abrasives laden polymeric putty with other ingredients to polish the surfaces. This medium is extruded backand-forth over the surface employing the hydraulic pressure system through the aluminum alloy 1060 as the work piece and SiC as abrasive material. Using the Taguchi method, the main parameters is length of stroke, extrusion pressure and number of cycles have been analyzed for the better signal-to-noise ratio for the surface roughness. Taguchi’s experimental design based on L 9 orthogonal array has been taken for the experimentation and on the basis of maximum Signal-to-Noise (S/N) ratio. The R Square pieces (the ability of the independent values to predict the dependent values) is 94.4% for mean. The optimal parametric combination for minimum Ra at 120 mm length of stroke, 8 Mpa extrusion pressure, 30 cycles.