Experimental investigations into forces acting during a magnetic abrasive finishing process

A 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. Knowledge of forces acting during MAF is important to understand the mechanism of material removal. Forces have direct influence on the generation of a finished surface and accuracy of the workpiece. This paper reports the experimental findings about the forces acting during MAF and provides correlation between the surface finish and the forces. The resistance type force transducer (ring dynamometer) has been designed and fabricated. It is used to measure the normal magnetic force component responsible for microindentation into the workpiece and tangential cutting force component producing microchips. The force data have been recorded on-line by making use of virtual instruments (using Lab-View software). It is concluded that forces and change in surface roughness (ΔRa) increase with increase in current to the electromagnet (or magnetic flux density) and decrease in the working gap.