Rheological Characterization and Finishing Performance Evaluation of Vegetable Oil-Based Bi-dispersed Magnetorheological Finishing Fluid

Magnetorheological (MR) finishing fluids are the backbone of MR finishing technology. The abrading forces acting on a workpiece surface can be controlled flexibly and the fine finishing with close tolerances can be obtained by using proper machining conditions and MR finishing fluid compositions. The structure of MR finishing fluid under applied magnetic field provides useful rheological properties which are helpful during finishing operation. The rheological properties of fluid sample can be improved by the addition of magnetic nanoparticles which fills the structural micro-cavities of fluid sample. In the present work, iron oxide nanoparticles are used for preparation of bi-dispersed MR finishing fluid samples. Rheological properties and finishing performance of both mono-dispersed and bi-dispersed fluid samples are compared.