Process characteristics of surface finishing using viscoelastic abrasive laden media on industrial metals in non-contact ultrasonic finishing process

• Main Author: Chien Artadi, Myron Huihao
• Other Authors: Yeo Swee Hock
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Manufacturing
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/77619
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Ultrasonic machining is a non-conventional machining technique used to process hard and brittle materials. It provides improved surface finishing, provides better strength and fatigue life of the processed product. With the assistance of ultrasonic vibrations, it uses a low viscous media abrasive slurry to fracture and impact the working surface. To prove the success of ultrasonic machining, this project will explore the feasibility and effectiveness of viscoelastic media abrasive slurry which is commonly used in abrasive flow machining on a non-contact ultrasonic finishing process setup. Three different industrial metals were machined using wire-cut electric discharge machining and tested. A comprehensive study has been done with variating amplitudes and machining time intervals to investigate the changes in surface roughness, material removal, 3D surface topography and microscopic imaging. The results of the experiments indicated positive outcomes with an overall decrease in surface roughness, at different vibratory amplitudes and machining time interval for all 3 materials. However, the rate at which it reduced differed, with XW41 showing the largest rate of surface roughness reduction, followed by Al6061 and lastly Ti6Al4V. The machining time interval also indicated that XW41 and Al6061 required a shorter machining time as compared to Ti6Al4V. The quality of the surface finishing for both cases showed that Al6061 had a more even and flatter surface as compared to XW41 and Ti6Al4V. It can be concluded that the viscoelastic abrasive slurry used in abrasive flow machining was effective in surface finishing with the non-contact ultrasonic finishing process setup. Further studies on other various process characteristics can be investigated if additional functions are equipped onto the non-contact ultrasonic finishing process setup. Other studies on the slurry compounds, process modelling and software simulations can also be done to help improve on the existing setup and procedure.