Modeling of material removal in ultrasonic assisted magnetic abrasive finishing process

Abstract Ultrasonic assisted magnetic abrasive finishing (UAMAF) integrates ultrasonic vibrations with magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) process to finish the workpiece surface more efficiently as compared to MAF. In this work, mechanism of material removal has been discussed. A kinematic analysis of an abrasive particle and an analysis of material removal during UAMAF is presented. The total material removal during finishing is attributed to two simultaneous and independent phenomena — a steady state material removal and a transient material removal. The steady state removal mainly depends on the finishing condition and remains constant throughout the finishing time, while transient removal is primarily associated with the surface roughness of the workpiece. A finite‒element analysis of electromagnet was performed to calculate magnetic‒flux density in the finishing region to evaluate the normal force acting on the active abrasive particles. The steady state material removal was modeled as a function of velocity and normal force using the process physics. The transient material removal was modeled as a function of the volume of instantaneous irregularities available on the workpiece surface. The developed model predicted the material removal rate (MRR) in UAMAF as a function of supply voltage, working gap, angular speed of the electromagnet, amplitude and frequency of ultrasonic vibration, hardness and initial surface roughness of the workpiece. The model brought out that there was an exponential relationship between MRR and finishing time.