Surface topography and wettability of the metallic surface machined through abrasive flow finishing

Advanced finishing processes are becoming the cutting-edge tool of modern manufacturing system because of the increasing demand for smooth surfaces and miniaturized features. Owing to the decreased size of the features, the requirement for the surface finish of the workpiece continues to increase the complicacy and sometimes made it difficult. Abrasive flow finishing process has an irreplaceable role in advanced finishing process because it can reach any complicated internal cavities and can finish to the required accuracy on difficult to machine materials. In the present investigation, an effort has been made to finish the aluminum metallic surfaces using tailor made abrasive flow finishing process to understand the effect of process parameters on surface topography before and after finishing. A viscoelastic polymer based flexible abrasive media is developed in-house and used for finishing of workpieces. The surface characteristics are evaluated using profilometer and scanning electron microscope. The process parameters are designed based on Central Composite Design (CCD) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM) has been used to optimize the process parameters. The sessile drop technique has been used to study the contact angle between DI water and aluminum surfaces machined using the developed technique and results are reported in this paper.