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Abrasive flow finishing of FDM printed parts using a sustainable media

Harlal S. Mali (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India)
Bhargav Prajwal (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India)
Divyanshu Gupta (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India)
Jai Kishan (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India)

Rapid Prototyping Journal

ISSN: 1355-2546

Article publication date: 9 April 2018

691

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to study the integration between fused deposition modeling (FDM) technology and abrasive flow machining process to improve the surface quality of FDM printed parts. FDM process has some limitations in terms of accuracy and surface finish. Hence, post-processing operations are essential to increase the quality of the part.

Design/methodology/approach

Initially, a sustainable polymer abrasive gel-based media (SPAGM) using natural polymer and natural additives (waste vegetable oil) was prepared using different combinations of (abrasive mesh size, percentage of abrasives and percentage of liquid synthesizer); then the characterization of media was done to check various properties. As media is an essential part in the process which helps in increase the surface finish, it needs to have some desired characteristics such as the following: the developed SPAG needs to hold the abrasives; its viscosity has to be medium so that it can easily flow through the machine; and its thermal stability caused by the increase in the temperature during various cycles of operation. For that, it is characterized rheologically as well as thermally to find its various properties.

Findings

Experiments were performed on FDM-printed parts using an L9 orthogonal array with different parameters to find their effect on the workpiece. Scanning electron microscope images of SGAPM showed sharp edges of abrasive particles and bonding pattern between polymer chain molecules. Good surface finish and material removal rate (MRR) was observed at high pressure and long finishing time with 50 per cent abrasive concentration.

Originality/value

The authors confirm that this work is original and has neither been published elsewhere nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the support of CDOS (Centre for Development of Stones) Research project No-0290032, an autonomous institute supported by the Government of Rajasthan for funding the project.

Citation

Mali, H.S., Prajwal, B., Gupta, D. and Kishan, J. (2018), "Abrasive flow finishing of FDM printed parts using a sustainable media", Rapid Prototyping Journal, Vol. 24 No. 3, pp. 593-606. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-10-2017-0199

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited

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