Magnetorheological Fluid Finishing of Soft Materials: A Critical Review

Magnetorheological Finishing (MRF) is one of the precision finishing processes and recently commercialized method for finishing of various materials like optical glasses, metals, non-metals etc. This method utilizes a suspension consisting of a fluid carrier which can be water or oil, both magnetic and non-magnetic particles and stabilizing agents. Rheological behavior of this mixture of magnetorheological (MR) fluid with abrasives changes under the influence of magnetic field which in turn regulates the finishing forces during finishing processes. Present study critically reviews the MRF process used for achieving nano-level finishing of soft materials and the advancements made in this process