Preparation, microstructure analysis and performance evaluation of bonded magnetic abrasives

The traditional edged tool for machining is uneconomical for harder and difficult to machine materials. In view of the seriousness of this issue, the newly unconventional fine finishing process i.e., magnetic abrasive flow machining (MAFM) has been developed. However, the major constraint in wide spread adoption of this technology is the exorbitant cost of magnetic abrasives, which acts as a cutting tool in MAFM. In this paper, to improve the finishing performance, iron (Fe) powder mixed with diamond abrasives were prepared as bonded magnetic abrasives. These magnetic abrasives were prepared by mechanical alloying followed by annealing of diamond abrasives of 52 μm grit size and Fe powder of 49 μm grit size. These abrasives were micro-structurally analysed. The results indicate that densification increases and porosity decreases with increasing temperature. Further it was clarified that the prepared bonded magnetic abrasives has potential performance as the new magnetic abrasives for fine finishing.