A Study of Various Techniques of Preparing Magnetic Abrasives

With the development in the industries like Aeronautics, Optical Electronics, Medical instruments and Nuclear Reactors the need of part surface finish and geometric precision has increased drastically. The Magnetically Assisted Abrasive Finishing (MAAF) processes are emerging as one of the most suitable techniques for obtaining quality finish in which deep cutting marks left by conventional finishing processes like Grinding, Honing, Lapping etc have been removed and replaced by a new surface texture. In MAAF processes, Ferromagnetic particles are mixed with fine abrasive particles like Al2O3, SIC, CBN and Diamond to form magnetic abrasive particles. Sometimes, simply mixed loose ferromagnetic and abrasive particles are also used in certain applications. The major barrier on the road of commercial adoption of this technology is the non availability of magnetic abrasives. The objective of the present study is to review the various existing techniques of preparing magnetic abrasives particles and to suggest some alternate methods for producing magnetic abrasives.