EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION DURING FINISHING OF AL/SiC-MMC's BY ABRASIVE FLOW MACHINING (AFM) PROCESS

Al/SiCp-MMC's find their use in engineering and structural components but their machining particularly finishing is a challenge for manufacturing engineers due to their heterogonous nature having abrasive particles randomly distributed and oriented in the matrix material. An abrasive flow machining (AFM) set up has been designed and fabricated with an indigenously developed alternative media to finish the internal cylindrical surfaces of Al/SiCp-MMC components. Work-pieces were prepared by lathe operations after stir casting Al/SiC-MMC, 25 mm diameter bar of 0%, 5%, 10% and 15% SiC by weight. The influence of AFM process parameters e.g. abrasive mesh size, number of cycles, extrusion pressure, abrasive concentration and AFM media viscosity grade on average surface finish improvement, Delta R-a and material removal, MR, mg have been analyzed. The Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) study also reveals the improvement in surface finish of these MMC's.