DEVELOPMENT OF NEW ABRASIVE LADEN POLYMER MEDIA AND STUDY THEIR RHEOLOGY

A high-quality surface finish is crucial for the functionality and durability of machined parts. Lapping, grinding, and honing are other common conventional methods of finishing. The most significant drawback is that they are limited to processing just elementary geometry. Because of its self-deforming nature, abrasive flow machining (AFM) is often employed to provide a smooth surface finish on objects with a highly non-uniform shape. It is the media (viscoelastic polymer) that plays the most significant role in all AFM procedures, which consist of a machine, a fixture, and media. A key issue for small businesses is the high cost of commercial abrasive, a component of the viscoelastic medium used in AFM to produce the finishing action (abrasion). The finishing cost per unit component also turns out to be rather significant when utilizing commercial media with SiC/diamond abrasives, rendering its usage uneconomical for mass finishing