Numerical simulation of the combination effect of external magnetic field and rotating workpiece on abrasive flow finishing

Finishing of a workpiece is a main process in the production. This affects the quality and lifetime. Finishing in order of nanometer, nowadays, is a main demand of the industries. Thus, some new finishing process, such as abrasive flow finishing, is introduced to respond this demand. This may be aided by rotating workpiece and imposing a magnetic field. Numerical simulation of this process can be beneficial to reduce the expense and predict the result in a minimum time. Accordingly, in this study, magnetorheological fluid finishing is numerically simulated. The working medium contains magnetic and abrasive particles, blended in a base fluid. Some hydrodynamic parameters and surface roughness variations are studied. It is found that combination of rotating a workpiece and imposing a magnetic field can improve the surface roughness up to 15 percent.