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Lecture No-1
Need For Advanced Material Removal Processes and Abrasive Flow Machining
Advanced Material Removal Processes represent one of the technologies, which emerged
after the second world war to cope up with the demands of sophisticated, more durable
and cost competitive products. With the advent of new materials such as metal-matrix
composites, super-alloys, ceramics, aluminates and high performance polymers etc. and
the stringent requirements to machine complex geometrical shapes with high precision
and accuracy, a strong need existed for the development of advanced material removal
processes. The processes in this category differ from conventional processes in either
utilization of energy in an innovative way or, in using forms of energy that were unused
for the purpose of manufacturing. The conventional machining processes normally
involve the use of energy from electric motors, hydraulics, gravity, etc. and rely on the
physical contact between tools and work components. On the contrary, advanced material
removal processes utilize energy from sources such as electrochemical reactions, high
temperature plasma, high velocity jets and loose abrasives mixed in various carriers etc.
Although these processes were originally developed to handle unique problems in
aerospace industry (machining of very hard and tough alloys), today wide range of
industries have adopted this technology in numerous manufacturing operations.
Why are Advanced Machining / Material Removal Processes Needed?
With the advent of new materials and the requirements of complex features on them,
there was a necessity to develop new processes. Some of these features are:
1. Related to material properties:
High hardness
High strength
High brittleness
Complex shapes
from
electrical, mechanical, thermal or chemical source. Most of these processes dont use a sharp
cutting tool, as in the conventional case.
classified according to the
processes
The special deformable ability of media is responsible for its movement through any
shape of the passage. Restricted media flow passages are necessary at the surfaces to be
processed by AFM, wherein the media behaves somewhat like flexible grinding stone,
abrades the material, and provides a good surface finish over the surface. Generally, a
fixture is required to offer restriction or to direct and focus the media to desired locations
in the work piece. Fig. 3.1.1 illustrates the principle and basic operation of AFM process.
The
T clamping of work piece is made
m
betwee n the two media cylinnders, whichh are
hy
ydraulically operated an
nd placed in
n opposite diirections. Loower media cylinder is filled
with
w required
d volume of abrasive
a
ladeen media
th
hen extruded
d through the work piece into the uppper media cylinder (reffer Fig. 3.1.1 b.).
The
T procedurre is reverseed and the media
m
is fedd back throuugh the worrk piece intto the
lo
ower cylindeer (refer Fig. 3.1.1 c.). A process cyccle is constittuted by com
mbination of these
up
p and down strokes.
AFM
A
Techno
ology
To
T describe the
t process technology,
t
three elemeents namely the machinee, the mediaa, and
th
he tooling arre considereed very impo
ortant. The machine decides the exxtent of abraasion,
th
he media deetermines wh
hat kind of abrasion wiill occur annd the fixturre determinees the
ex
xact location of abrasio
on. All macchines regarrdless of sizze are positiive displaceement
hydraulic systems, which force the abrasive laden media through the fixture work piece at
a selected pressure and flow rate. Standard units operate within 10 bar to 200 bars and
with flow rates up to 400 liters/min. AFM systems are essentially provided with controls
on hydraulic system pressure, clamping and unclamping of fixtures, volume flow rate of
media, and advance and retract of media pistons. The accessories such as automatic flow
timers, cycle counters, volumetric displacement systems, pressure and temperature
compensated flow control valves, media heat exchangers are integrated to conventional
AFM systems for production applications.
The most essential component of the process is the media, which is considered a
proprietary item by machine manufacturers. It consists of base material or carrier,
abrasive grains and proprietary additives. Most widely used carrier is a high viscosity
rheopetic fluid (at any constant rate of shear, its apparent viscosity increases with time to
some maximum value). The base material has enough degree of cohesion and tenacity to
drag the abrasive grains along with it through various passages/regions. Aluminum oxide
and silicon carbide are most suitable abrasives for many applications but boron carbide
and diamond are specifically used for special applications. Abrasive grain to base
material ratio can vary from 2 to 12. The additives are mainly used to modify the base
material properties to get desired flow-ability and rheological characteristics of the
media. Hydrocarbon gels are frequently used lubricants in the media. All additives are
carefully blended in predetermined quantities to obtain consistent formulations.
The primary function of a fixture is to hold the work piece in proper position
between two opposite cylinders and direct the media by restricting it to the areas to
worked during the process cycle. When necessary, the fixture can protect edges
from abrasion by acting as mechanical mask. Steel, urethane,
materials used for manufacturing fixtures. The fixture
very complex depending upon the work piece
or
be
surfaces
configuration.
AFM Advantages
AFM Disadvantages
The cost of media is very high and is unusable after the process.
AFM Applications
The process was initially developed for effective de-burring of hydraulic control blocks.
Later on, the field of applications got rapidly diversified into defense, medical and
manufacturing units. The inaccessible areas in components that are very difficult to finish
with traditional methods, can be easily finish machined by AFM process with up to 90 %
improvement in it with respect to the original accuracy. The typical applications of AFM
are in improving airfoil surfaces of compressor and turbine components, edge finishing of
holes and attachment features, improvement in fatigue strength of blades, disks, hubs and
shafts with uniform polishing on its edges. The adjustment of air flow resistance in
blades, vanes, combustion liners, nozzles and diffusers, finishing of fuel spray nozzles,
fuel control bodies, bearing components, reworking the components to remove coke and
carbon deposits and to improve its surface integrity.