Taguchi’s design optimization for finishing of plane surface with diamond-based sintered magnetic abrasives

Abstract The magnetic field-assisted abrasive finishing parameters used in this study were the distance of the workpiece from the magnetic pole (D), amount of sintered magnetic abrasives (A), speed of rotation of the pole (R), grain size of the abrasive particles (S) and feed to the workpiece (F). The surface roughness percentage change (SRPC) and material removal rate (MRR) of the plane surface workpiece of aluminum are the response quantities. An orthogonal L16 array of the Taguchi method was constructed and is used in this study to analyze the influence of finishing parameters on the surface roughness percentage change of the workpiece. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the extent to which finishing parameters are important. The experimental results showed that for SRPC, the best combination of levels for the given control factors is the distance of the workpiece from the magnetic pole (D) = 4 mm, the amount of sintered magnetic abrasive (A) = 16 g, the speed of rotation of the pole (R) = 600 rpm, the grain size of the abrasive particles (S) = 175 μ m and the feed rate of the workpiece (F) = 1.5 m min −1 . For MRR, the best combination of levels for the given control factors is the distance of the workpiece from the magnetic pole (D) = 4 mm, the amount of sintered magnetic abrasive (A) = 16 g, the speed of rotation of the pole (R) = 400 rpm, the grain size of the abrasive particles (S) = 175 μ m and the feed rate of the workpiece (F) = 6.0 m min −1 . The surface profiles and microscopic images of polished and unpolished workpieces show that the magnetic field-assisted abrasive finishing process is very effective in finishing aluminum surfaces.