International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]

https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)

Abrasive Flow Machining using Abrasive Paste

with Oiticica Oil
Marcelo Rodrigo Munhoz1, Larissa Galante Dias1, Ricardo Breganon2,
Janaina Fracaro de Souza Gonçalves3, Carlos Elias da Silva Júnior4
1
Faculdade Estácio de Sá de Ourinhos, Ourinhos, São Paulo, Brazil
2
Federal Institute of Paraná, Jacarezinho, Paraná, Brazil
3
Federal Technologic University of Paraná, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil
4
Federal Technologic University of Paraná, Cornélio Procópio, Paraná, Brazil

Abstract — This paper presents the use of Abrasive Flow after a few initial cycles, material removals and
Machining (AFM) and development of abrasive paste improvement in surface roughness of the work part
using oiticica oil, a typical plant in the northeast region surface [3, 4, 5, 6].
of Brazil, are presented as a necessity in the face of the Therefore, it proposes in this work the construction and
problems related to the surface finishing process parts use of the equipment for the Abrasive Flow Machining
employing existing comercial paste. Proper surface and the development of an alternative abrasive paste with
finishing and polishing improves the quality and oiticica oil.
performance efficiency of the work. With this, the main
objective of this work is to use an equipment and an II. OITICICA OIL
alternative paste for the machining of aluminum 6061-T6 The Licânia rigid Benth, vegetation known regionally as
and SAE 1045 steel parts. A prepared formulation of oiticica, it belongs to the Crysobalanaceae family, typical
abrasive paste with oiticica oil and solid particles of of riparian forests of the caatinga, grows in deep alluvial
silicon carbide was proposed and compared with a watersheds of rivers and streams that are in the regions of
conventional paste in the machining of the two metals in northeast states of Brazil (Piauí, Ceará, Rio Grande do
question. The mass and the internal diameter of the parts Norte and Paraíba), mainly in the backwoods [7]. It is
were analyzed before and after the machining. It was from the nut that the highest oil content is extracted, used
established the variation of the number of cycles in in large scale by the industries producing automotive
Abrasive Flow Machining, keeping constant the paints, printers, varnishes, fine glaze and tarpaulins [8].
concentration and size of the metal particles in the paste The oiticica has its potential underutilized, being often
considered. The paste formulation with oiticica oil employed only in the soap industry, is a species that
showed a new commercial paste option under presents high yield relative to others in the production of
development that may contribute to a better performance oil. The nut occupies about 70% of the composition of the
in the micro-machining of metal parts. fruit and 60% to 63% of oil content [9].
Keywords — Abrasive Flow Machining, Oiticica Oil,
Aluminum 6061-T6, SAE 1045 Steel. III. ABRASIVE FLOW MACHINING
The Abrasive Flow Machining is a non-traditional
I. INTRODUCTION machining process which removes the material from the
The dimensional precision and alignment, as well as the surface of the part and produces residual compressive
quality of surface finish, are considered by processes such tension, can be worked with various metal materials such
as machining, polishing, sharpening, that is, traditional as steel, stainless steel, aluminum, zinc, brass, cast iron,
methods of surface finishing. These finishing operations titanium and nickel alloys, as well as in thermoplastic
represent a critical phase and high cost for global materials, which can not be machined by conventional
production processes [1, 2]. machining processes efficiently and economically [5],
With this, there is a need to develop a finishing process [10]. The purpose of this process is to produce a nano-
with broader limits of application areas, better quality level finish on machined componentes, time saving, and
performance, increased productivity and the possibility of is considered one of the best methods for finishing
automating the operation. The Abrasive Flow Machining complex geometries not accessible by conventional
(AFM) is a process that meets these requirements. finishing tools. In Abrasive Flow Machining a semi-solid
Studies have shown that in the Abrasive Flow Machining, and flexible abrasive compound ("paste") is charged and

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
forced through, by an extrusion process, on the surface to
be machined of one or more parts, removing small
amounts of material with each pass. The paste is
composed of the semi-solid carrier and the abrasive
grains, that is, it functions as a sandpaper and its particles
act as cutting tools. The abrasive action during the
process depends on the extrusion pressure, volume and
flow rate of the paste, determined by machine
configuration (equipment) and the paste passage área,
considering the type of paste to be used, its formulation
includes the viscosity, the type and size of abrasives [11].
However, the influence of three controllable variables
(extrusion pressure, concentration and abrasive grain size)
are responses to the removal of material and consequently
internal diameter increase.
Abrasive Flow Machining can produce surface finishes of
up to 0.05 µm, to thin out small holes with diameters of
0.2 mm, generate curved surfaces with radii ranging from
0.025 mm to 1.5 mm [12]. Fig. 1: Abrasive Flow Machining Equipment
The abrasive paste is the main component of the Abrasive
Flow Machining process. The paste consists of a In the opposite direction, the 25 mm stroke is again
viscoelastic polymer reinforced with the abrasive completed and the work part wears. This combination of
particles. This viscoelastic polymer acts as a carrier movements in both opposing directions compose a cycle
medium and the abrasive particles act as a cutting tool in the Abrasive Flow Machining process [14].
that removes the material from the work part. The The applied pressure was 50 bar (725.189 Psi). The tested
polymer pastes used are Polybiosiloxane and Silicone aluminum and steel parts are machined for a number of
Rubber, the commonly used abrasives are silicon pre-determined cycles. For the aluminum and steel parts
carbides, aluminum oxide, boron carbide and for both the conventional pastes, commercial use and the
polycrystalline Diamond [13]. developed paste, 720 compression cycles were carried
In this work it is proposed the use of an abrasive paste out.
using oiticica oil. After the Abrasive Flow Machining procedure, the parts
were removed from the equipment and underwent a
IV. MATERIALS AND METHODS cleaning process, to start the measurements of mass and
The tests were carried out using a hydraulic press and a diameter of the machined parts.
Abrasive Flow Machining device also developed, as To measure the masses of the work parts a balance of the
shown in Figure 1. mark Bel Engineering Mark was used, model M214A,
The hydraulic press was used to perform the compression with resolution of 0.0001 g, under the room temperature
movement, where the piston compresses the abrasive of 33°C and ambient air relative humidity of 44%. The
paste downwards inside the cylinder, forcing it to pass amount of material removed from each part was estimated
through the internal diameter of the parts fixed in the by the difference between its masses, respectively before
working support. As a result, the abrasive paste abrades and after each machining operation.
the tested parts. After the initial linear movement of The machining tests were performed with two types of
25 mm, the cylinders are manually inverted. working materials 6061-T6 aluminum and SAE 1045
steel, this is because aluminum has a greater lightness in
transportation and higher resistance to corrosion and steel
is currently the most used metal alloy, being used
intensively in numerous applications such as machines,
tools and construction.
After that, the parts were prepared and transformed in the
formats established, as shown in Figures 2 and 3, so as to
be fixed by threading in the holes of the working support.

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
in this work for Abrasive Flow Machining. Each
experiment was realized in a set of 5 parts for each cycle.
Table 1 shows the material removal for aluminum and
Table 2 shows the removal for steel, both for 20 cycles
and for the conventional and developed pastes. The same
Fig. 2: Aluminum parts 6061-T6
procedure was repeated for 60 and 100 cycles.

Table.1: Comparation of material removal for aluminum

in 20 cycles
Aluminum Conventional
Developed Paste
Paste
Fig. 3: Steel parts SAE1045
Mass
Mass Mass Mass
Parts before
The paste developed for the tests is a mixture of plaster after before after
Numbers AFM
powder (2.400 grams), abrasive particles of silicon AFM (g) AFM (g) AFM (g)
(g)
carbide (500 grams), oiticica oil (600 grams) and linseed
1 1.6833 1.6820 1.6848 1.6838
oil (5 grams).
2 1.7086 1.6970 1.6920 1.6892
The plaster powder, oiticica oil and linseed oil were
mixed with the abrasive particles in a defined ratio 3 1.6995 1.6924 1.6948 1.6942
(0.685: 0.171: 0.001: 0.143) respectively, under the 4 1.6935 1.6916 1.7075 1.7046
conditions of room temperature of 27°C and humidity of 5 1.6922 1.6920 1.6934 1.6908
79% to achieve the desired percentage concentration of
particles by weight [weight of abrasive particles x 100 / Table 2 - Comparation of material removal for steel in 20
(weight of developed paste)]. However, the common cycles
definition of the percentage of abrasive particle Conventional
Steel Developed Paste
concentration is given by: weight of the abrasive particles Paste
x 100 / (weight of the abrasive paste). The Mass
Mass Mass Mass
homogenization of the abrasive paste was performed Parts before
after before after
manually. Before starting the actual tests, a preliminary Numbers AFM
AFM (g) AFM (g) AFM (g)
one was performed with 2 machining cycles for every 5 (g)
work parts, in order to obtaining a homogeneous mixture 1 5.1641 5.1605 5.3942 5.3892
inside the equipment cylinders [14]. 2 5.6866 5.6798 5.6877 5.6757
3 5.2633 5.2546 5.4449 5.4389
V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS 4 4.8252 4.8214 5.3759 5.3691
The results obtained after the accomplishment of the 5 5.7983 5.7934 5.3327 5.3234
machining tests related to the removal of material and
variation of the internal diameters of the machined parts Removal of material occurred in the 6 conditions tested,
will be presented. resulting from the combination of 3 cycle numbers and 2
During the tests, the influence of the number of cycles types of materials and are shown in Tables 3 and 4.
and the type of abrasive paste employed on the amount of Where D represents the developed paste, C is the
material removed and on the variation of the internal conventional paste and n is the number of cycles.
diameter was evaluated, while the concentration, the size
of the abrasives and the paste speed remained constant. Table 3 - Average removal of material: Aluminum (g)
The results obtained with the developed abrasive paste D(n100) C(n100) C(n20) C(n60) D(n20) D(n60)
were compared with those obtained in the tests carried out 0.0331> 0.0241> 0.0221> 0.0157> 0.0153> 0.0139
with a conventional (commercial) one. The dimensional
analysis of the machined parts were analyzed by means of Table 4 - Average removal of material: Steel (g)
images obtained by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). D(n20) D(n100) D(n60) C(n20) C(n60) C(n100)
0.0391> 0.0353> 0.0352> 0.0278> 0.0253> 0.0223
The first result presents the values of material removal in
grams, according to the variation of the number of cycles, Removal of material from steel parts resulted higher than
which were 20, 60 and 100 cycles for the aluminum and aluminum, although this material offers greater resistance
steel parts, according to Figures 2 and 3. The use of the to abrasion in relation to aluminum, due to the fact that in
conventional paste was compared to the paste developed the primary machining the surface finish of the steel parts
was inferior compared to that of the aluminum parts.

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
The second result presents the effect of the parameters of effect of the number of cycles, it was used Scanning
Abrasive Flow Machining on the variation of the internal Electron Microscopy in all the parts tested.
diameter of the parts and the difference between the initial Figures 4 and 5 shows the internal diameter variation of
and final values for the aluminum and steel parts. Table 5 an aluminum part, respectively before and after 20 cycles
shows the comparation of the diameter before and after with the conventional paste.
the AFM process for the aluminum parts tested in 20
cycles and Table 6 compares the steel parts under the
same conditions, for both abrasive pastes.

Table 5 - Comparation of the internal diameters for the

aluminum parts in 20 cycles 7.631 mm
Conventional
Aluminum Developed Paste
Paste
Diameter Diameter
Diameter Diameter
Parts before after
before AFM after AFM
Numbers AFM AFM
(mm) (mm)
(mm) (mm)
1 7.631 7.780 7.682 7.747
2 7.872 7.874 7.689 7.800
3 7.746 8.000 7.706 7.885 Fig. 4: Aluminum part before the AFM for 20 cycles with
4 7.998 8.101 7.710 7.928 the conventional paste
5 8.325 8.342 7.758 7.873

Table 6 - Comparation of the internal diameters for steel

parts in 20 cycles
Conventional
Steel Developed Paste
Paste
Diameter Diameter 7.780 mm
Diameter Diameter
Parts before after
before AFM after AFM
Numbers AFM AFM
(mm) (mm)
(mm) (mm)
1 8.208 8.295 7.585 8.071
2 7.683 8.330 7.288 8.102
3 7.564 8.443 7.288 7.550
4 7.689 8.253 7.552 8.117
5 7.334 8.232 7.766 8.181
Fig. 5: Aluminum part after the AFM for 20 cycles with
The Tables 7 and 8 present the results of increasing the conventional paste
diameters for all the cycles tested, comparing the
conventional paste with the developed one for the The Figure 6 shows the aluminum part to be tested with
aluminum and steel parts. the developed paste and the Figure 7 shows the variation
of the internal diameter after 20 cycles of the Abrasive
Table 7 - Average diameter of parts: Aluminum (mm) Flow Machining process with the developed paste.
D(n100) C(n60) C(n100) D(n60) D(n20) C(n20)
0.649> 0.437> 0.422> 0.272> 0.138> 0.105

Table 8 - Average diameter of parts: Steel (mm)

D(n100) D(n60) C(n20) C(n60) D(n20) C(n100)
0.672> 0.628> 0.615> 0.524> 0.508> 0.382

The highest average diameter variation occurred for both

aluminum and steel with 100 cycles with the developed
paste D. However, in all cycles and both materials
occurred the increase of the diameter of all the parts. In
order to verify the dimensions of the diameters and the

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)

7.682 mm 8.295 mm

Fig. 6: Aluminum part before AFM for 20 cycles with Fig. 9: Steel part after the AFM for 20 cycles with the
developed paste conventional paste

7.585 mm
7.747 mm

Fig. 7: Aluminum part after the AFM for 20 cycles with Fig. 10: Steel part before the AFM for 20 cycles with the
the developed paste developed paste

The same procedures was performed with the steel parts. The Figure 10 shows the steel part before the Abrasive
The Figure 8 shows the steel part before the Abrasive Flow Machining procedure; the Figure 11 shows the
Flow Machining procedure; the Figure 9 shows the variation of the internal diameter for 20 cycles with the
variation in internal diameter for 20 cycles with the paste developed.
conventional paste.

8.208 mm
8.071 mm

Fig. 8: Steel part before the AFM for 20 cycles with

conventional paste Fig. 11: Steel part after the AFM for 20 cycles with the
developed paste

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International Journal of Advanced Engineering Research and Science (IJAERS) [Vol-6, Issue-5, May- 2019]
https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaers.6.5.16 ISSN: 2349-6495(P) | 2456-1908(O)
The Figures 4 to 11 represent the Scanning Electron [9] Pinto, G. P. (1963) Características físico-químicas e
Microscopy with the values of the diameters of both the outras informações sobre as principais oleaginosas do
aluminum and steel parts, before and after the Abrasive Brasil. Recife: Instituto de Pesquisa e
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cycles. P. (2010). Performance study of a natural polymer
based media for abrasive flow machining, Indian
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The paste used experimentally in this work presented 413.
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average variation of the internal diameters of the parts, generation during abrasive flow finishing Al/SiCp-
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observed that the removal of material is influenced by the Advanced Manufacturing Technology (61): 1263-
hardness and surface finish of the parts. The highest 1268.
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and steel with the developed paste for the largest number Allied Publishers, Mumbai (in press).
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composed of oiticica oil may serve as an option for the science for engineers. Prentice Hall, 6 ed.
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Machining. paste using oiticica oil in an abrasive flow machining
equipment. 156f. Master in Mechanical Engineering.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Federal Technological University of Paraná. Cornélio
This work was supported by FAESO (Faculdade Estácio Procópio.
de Sá de Ourinhos).

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