Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

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Materials Today: Proceedings

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/matpr

Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing

on copper alloy
Akash K. More ⇑, Rahul M. Chanmanwar
Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli 416415, India

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Micro and nano finished surface has its great demand in industrial as well as medical application for their
Received 23 May 2019 superior properties. Recently newer methods are developed to get the nanometric surface finish.
Accepted 5 July 2019 Magnetorheological (MR) finishing is the processes which can generate nano level surface finish.
Available online xxxx
Therefore finishing of metals by using MR finishing process is required to be studied. MR finishing can
remove the material of hard and difficult to cut engineering materials for their electronic, optical, etc.
Keywords: industrial applications. The MR finishing is a newly developed technique which uses MR fluid for finish-
Flexible finishing tool
ing of the materials. MR fluid is the combination of carbonyl iron particles (CIP), abrasive and a carrier
Magnetorheological finishing
MR finishing
fluid such as water. In this study, introduction to the process has presented. Literature has been study
Nano level finishing in the area of MR finishing for different development of setups for different materials. MR finishing car-
Super finishing method ried out on the copper alloy workpiece to investigate the MR finishing process and their parametric anal-
ysis. Results show that significant improvement in the surface finish of the work surface.
Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 1st International Con-
ference on Manufacturing, Material Science and Engineering.

1. Introduction bination of micro ferromagnetic particle i.e. CIP’s, micro abrasives

Recently the finishing of difficult to cut materials like silicon,
glass, and ceramics has a great challenge to the industries. But
these materials have wide application so that new finishing tech-
niques should be adopted to finish these materials. In last two dec-
ades, new finishing processes have been developed to finish the
hard materials at the micro and nano level. Magnetorheological
(MR) finishing one of those techniques which generate the nano
level surface finish. MR finishing can remove the material of hard
and difficult to cut engineering materials for their electronic and
optical applications in industry. Magnetorheological (MR) finishing
is the newly developed technique for super finishing the free-form
surfaces. MR finishing process uses the magnetically dense pad of
MR fluid to remove the material from work surface. In the contact
region of the part and MR fluid the magnetic field applied which
makes necessary condition for finishing of part. The surface finish
takes place at the contact region it is called as finishing spot or fin-
ishing zone [1]. In MR finishing the finishing force is developed by
the magnetic flux and working gap between tool and work. Mate-
rial removal for finishing takes place by MR fluid which is the com-
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: more.aakaash77@gmail.com (A.K. More).
powder, carrier fluid and additives. The finishing forces depend
on the thrust applied, shear strength and density of the MR fluid
influenced by the magnetic field applied [2]. MR finishing can give
the surface finish in nanometer scale. MR fluid acts as flexible
brush or ribbon which provides a finishing action. The shearing
action for finishing the work surface can be obtained by rotating
tool mounted on machine spindle. In some cases both tool and
workpiece can be rotated in opposite direction to each other [5].
In this study, introduction to the process has given. Literature
has been study in the area of MR finishing for different methods
and materials. MR finishing carried out on the copper alloy work-
piece to investigate the MR finishing process and their parametric
analysis. Design of experiments by using Taguchi’s method has
used to find the optimal set of parameters. Analysis of parameters
on the response and their contributions has been studied.
2. Literature review
Kordonski and Jacobs [1] invented the MR finishing technology.
This technology is used for finishing of optics, ceramics, and semi-
conductors and so on. This technique is well combined with com-
puter control, allowing quality products with accuracy and quality
of finished surface. Saraswathamma [2] provides a discussion on

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215
2214-7853/Ó 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the 1st International Conference on Manufacturing, Material Science and Engineering.

Please cite this article as: A. K. More and R. M. Chanmanwar, Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing on copper alloy, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215
2 A.K. More, R.M. Chanmanwar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

MR finishing process for their advancements, finishing fluid, exper-

iments and application of process. He discussed the developments
of MR finishing and related processes. Jain et al. [3] developed the
finishing process by combined the two process called chemo-
mechanical MR finishing (CMMRF). Combination of chemical
mechanical polishing (CMP) and MR finishing used to finished sil-
icon work surface. This process does not affect the effects of each
process involved. Nanometric finishing of silicon surface is
achieved without any surface defects with high finishing rate. Ran-
jan et al. [4] used the previously developed CMMRF process for
super finishing of different metals. This process is studied and
applied to finish the copper alloy and optimized to get the better
surface finish. Results obtained by finishing of copper alloy is com-
pared with the previously finish silicon surface. Sidpara and Jain
[5] investigated the finishing process of single crystal silicon. Effect
of amount of iron particles, abrasives, wheel speed, initial and final
surface finish and MRR has been studied. Optimization of the pro-
cess studied to get the optimal parameters for several output
parameters. Luo et al. [6] uses a permanent magnetic yoke in high
efficient MR finishing process for finishing of Zirconia ceramics.
Damage free, high quality nano scale surface roughness achieved
by this process. Zirconia ceramic finished to a surface roughness
of 1 nm with an ultra-smooth surface by using parametric experi-
ments. Parameswari et al. [7] explains quality performance of the
MR finishing process in getting nano level surface finish on tita-
nium discs. Response surface model was developed and sequential
design of experiments through the statistical design was
employed. Independent process parameters selected as amount
of abrasive particles and wheel speed for this study. Sidpara and
Jain [8] did the parametric study of the finishing process for the
parameters like size and concentration, abrasive and magnetic
powder type. This study carried out for the surface finish improve-
ment along with the material removal rate of the process. Rheolog-
ical properties are studied under the magnetic field in terms of the
yield stress.
3. Experimental work
In this study to perform the experiments, MTAB XL milling
machine is used, where rotating spindle holds the magnetic tool
and stationary bed to hold the workpiece. CNC machines are most
suitable for these finishing processes because of their accuracy,
precision, stability and rigid construction. MR finishing process
requires a magnetic tool to hold the MR fluid for finishing opera-
tion. Fig. 1 shows the developed magnetic tool for MR finishing.
Fig. 2. Magnetic tool with cover plate.
Fig. 2 shows the magnetic tool with cover plate. MR Fluid is
magnetic in nature because it consists of ferromagnetic carbonyl
iron particle. Abrasive particle entrapped between the magnetic
particle and these abrasives are responsible for material removal.
Fig. 3 shows the mechanism of MR finishing process [9]. When
magnetic MR fluid come in contact with the cover plate attached
below the magnetic tool, magnetic field of permanent magnet is
applies to MR fluid. Effect of this applied magnetic field causes to
attract the fluid toward the magnet and density of fluid increases.
This dense MR fluid applies the forces on workpiece while rotating
and this force causes shearing action to remove the material from
the material while finishing. Magnetic tool is press against the
workpiece to maintain the working gap, MR fluid gets pressurized
in the working gap and flat squeezed layer of the fluid develops.
This flat layer is flexible and takes the shape of the workpiece ini-
tially and then removes the material from the workpiece. Fig. 4
shows the flat squeezed layer of MR fluid.
In this study, CIP used as the magnetic particles of average size
5 mm, aluminium oxide of average size 5 mm used as the abrasives.
Carries fluid used is deionized water and glycerine used as the
additive. Carrier fluid disperses the solid particles of CIP and abra-
sives, and additive is used to increase the viscosity and to minimize
the settling of solid particles. This increase in the viscosity of MR
fluid and use of glycerine creates the suspension between CIP
and abrasives [7]. By studying the various previous studies it is
came to know that main influencing parameters which contribute
in the finishing process are amount of CIP particles, amount of
abrasive particles, a carrier fluid, rotational speed of tool, working
gap, duration of finishing run, feed rate, amount of additives [3].

Fig. 1. Magnetic tool used in MR finishing. Fig. 3. Mechanism of MR finishing.

Please cite this article as: A. K. More and R. M. Chanmanwar, Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing on copper alloy, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215

Fig. 4. Flat squeezed layer of MR fluid.
Table 1
Process variables and their levels for optimization.
SR. No. Parameters
1 Feed Rate (mm/min)
2 Speed of Rotation (rpm)
3 Working Gap (mm)
4 Amount of abrasives (%)
Table 2
Composition of MR fluid.
SR. No. Parameters
1 Diameter of abrasives
2 Diameter of CIP
3 Carrier fluid
4 Additive
5 Finishing time
Please cite this article as: A. K. More and R. M. Chanmanwar, Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing on copper alloy, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215
A.K. More, R.M. Chanmanwar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 3
Optimization leads to better results and also effected of input
parameters on response variables can be studied. Thus Taguchi
analysis has been carried out. Feed, speed, working gap, amount
of abrasives these parameters are selected for the optimization as
they are most significant for the finishing process. Table 1 shows
the process variables and their levels are selected for the
optimization.
Following factors were kept constant during the finishing. Com-
position of the other element of the MR fluid were constant except
the amount of abrasives. Table 2 shows the composition of MR
fluid.
Fig. 5 shows the finishing of copper alloy on the milling
machine. Finished surface is also shown in the figure. In the figure
magnified view of finished surface is also shown.
Experiments were conducted according to Taguchi’s L18 array.
The roughness of copper alloy workpiece is measured by using
Taylor Hobson surface roughness tester. Surface roughness tester
is placed on surface plate to get the roughness values without
any error.
4. Results and discussion
Roughness is measured at 5 different locations and its average
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 is taken for minimizing error. Finishing operation performed 4 h
10 15 – for each experiment. Minitab 17 software used to carry out the
200 250 300 Taguchi’s statistical analysis of the results obtained by the experi-
2 3 4 ments performed. Graphs are plotted for mean of response variable
5 10 15 and the signal to noise (S/N) ratio. Smaller the better criteria has
used for the surface roughness response variable [10]. Smaller
value of means and higher the value the S/N ratio gives the optimal
set of parameters. Graphs are showing the significant trend of the
response variable for selected levels of the process parameters.
Fig. 6 shows the main effect plot for means of surface rough-
Value Composition
ness, and Fig. 7 show the main effect plots for S/N ratios for ‘‘smal-
ler the better” surface roughness. To determine the optimal set,
1–5 mm (Spherical) 5–15%
1–5 mm (Spherical) 30%
parameters showing minimum values of means of surface rough-
DI water 60% ness should be selected and in S/N ratio plot parameters showing
Glycerine 5% the higher values of S/N ratio should be selected. Higher values
4h – of S/N ratio shows the highest value of signal and lowest value of
noise hence providing the best results for selected level of
Fig. 5. Finishing of copper alloy surface.
4 A.K. More, R.M. Chanmanwar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 6. Main effect plot for means of surface roughness.

Fig. 7. Main effect plots for S/N ratios.

parameters. ANOVA have been performed to analyze the signifi-
cance of each parameter and their percentage contribution in the
process. In the analysis 90% confidence level has taken to calculate
the F-value and P-value to decide the significant factor. F value
indicates that how much change of the response variable observed
due to variation of the process parameter. Larger F value desired to
have the significant contribution of the process parameters. For the
90% confidence level P value should be less than the 0.1 and this
criteria has fulfilled by the results achieved by using ANOVA.
Table 3 shows the results of the ANOVA for response variable.

Table 3
Results of ANOVA for surface roughness.

Source DF Seq SS Contribution Adj SS Adj MS F-Value P-Value

Feed Rate (mm/min) 2 0.006124 17.37% 0.006124 0.006124 13.47 0.004
Speed of Rotation (rpm) 2 0.011340 32.16% 0.011340 0.005670 12.47 0.002
Working Gap (mm) 2 0.010076 28.58% 0.010076 0.005038 11.08 0.003
Amount of abrasives (%vol) 2 0.003170 8.99% 0.004548 0.001585 3.49 0.071
Error 2 0.004548 12.90% 0.003170 0.000455
Total 10 0.035258 100.00%

Please cite this article as: A. K. More and R. M. Chanmanwar, Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing on copper alloy, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215
 A.K. More, R.M. Chanmanwar / Materials Today: Proceedings xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Table 4
Optimal set of parameters for minimum surface roughness.

SR. No. Parameters Value

1 Feed Rate 15 mm/min
2 Speed of rotation 250 rpm
3 Working Gap 3 mm
4 Amount of Abrasives 10%

From the results we can say that the speed of rotation and
working gap are major contributing factor with more percentage
for contribution and feed rate and amount of abrasives are minor
contributing factors with less percentage.
Regression Equation:

Fig. 8. Photograph of Finished surface.

RaðlmÞ ¼ 0:11711 þ 0:01844 Feed Rateðmm=minÞ 10
 0:01844 Feed Rate ðmm=minÞ 15
þ 0:03489 Speed of Rotation ðrpmÞ 200
 0:02311 Speed of RotationðrpmÞ 250
 0:01178 Speed of RotationðrpmÞ 300
þ 0:00489 Working GapðmmÞ 2
 0:03111 Working GapðmmÞ 3
þ 0:02622 Working GapðmmÞ 4
þ 0:01222Amount of abrasivesð%volÞ 5
 0:01844 Amount of abrasivesð%volÞ 10
þ 0:00622 Amount of abrasives ð%volÞ 15
From the experimental work and analysis carried out in this
study, it was observed that for minimum surface roughness the
optimal set of process parameters can be taken as shown in
Table 4.
Validation experiments have been carried out to observe the
results achieved by using optimized parameters of the MR finish-
ing process. Two experiments have been carried out and average
value is calculated for the results. Finishing cycle carried out for
4 h and 6 h to check the level of surface finishing achieve at differ-
ent time cycles. Surface roughness reduced to 0.055 mm form the
initial roughness of 0.33 mm after finishing for 4 h. Further finishing
for 6 h surface roughness value reduced to the 0.033 mm.
It is observed that surface roughness decreases with increase in
a feed rate. Lowest roughness is observed at 15 mm/min feed rate.
As increase in a feed rate finishing rate is increase and more time
for finishing is getting for same surface area to be finished. Surface
roughness is more at 200 rpm, roughness reduced with increase in
speed at 250 rpm due to increase in the interaction between MR
fluid and workpiece. As speed of rotation increases finishing cycles
per second and finishing rate increases cause surface finish
improvement. At higher level of speed the splashing of abrasive
particles from the finishing zone takes place hence finishing rate
reduces due to separation abrasives. Working gap generates the
finishing pressure in the finishing zone. Increase in the working
gap causes decrease in the finishing pressure. Increasing working
gap reduces the magnetic flux density applied on the finishing
zone caused to reduce the finishing pressure. For the better results
finishing pressure should be optimal. Fewer amounts of abrasives
in MR fluid decreases the surface finish improvement due to lack
of abrasives particles in the finishing zone. Abrasive particles
should be in best suited combination of the other elements of
MR fluid for better surface finish improvement. Fig. 8 shows the
photograph of the finished workpiece.
5. Conclusions
In this paper approach for experimental study has been taken to
investigate the MR finishing process. After clearly observing the
results of all the experiments, following conclusions can be drawn:
 MR finishing is easy process to obtained the micro and nano
level surface finish
 Results obtained by the MR finishing are very significant and
good surface finish obtained on the workpiece.
 Optimization has been carried out for MR finishing process and
most influencing factor are found out as the speed of rotation
and working gap for their optimal value at 250 RPM and
3 mm respectively. Another two parameters, feed rate of
15 mm/min and 10% of amount of abrasive found as the optimal
value.
 MR finishing can be easily obtained on the non-magnetic metal-
lic surfaces like copper alloy which has its large applications in
electronic industries.
MR finishing can be investigated for different engineering mate-
rials such as glass, ceramics, metals and non-metals. MR finishing
process can be developed with assistance of the other finishing
or chemical process to develop the new combined process.
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Please cite this article as: A. K. More and R. M. Chanmanwar, Experimental investigation of magnetorheological finishing on copper alloy, Materials Today:
Proceedings, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2019.07.215