Surface polishing of CoCrMo alloy by magnetorheological polishing

Improving the surface quality of biomedical alloys is of great practical significance to the evolution of orthopaedic implant surgery. In the polishing stage, traditional polishing methods are prone to problems, such as substandard surface roughness values and poor surface morphology, which severely affect the service life of materials. The surface quality of the CoCrMo alloy treated with magnetorheological polishing was studied. First, a polishing tool was designed based on magnetic field simulations of different magnetic pole arrangements and flow field simulations of the shear behaviour of the magnetorheological polishing cluster. Second, to improve the surface quality, an equally spaced pseudo-random path was planned, and the polishing effect for this path was verified using simulations and experiments. Moreover, the effect of different process parameters, i.e., the machining gap, polishing tool rotation speed, and abrasive particle size, on the polishing forces and the surface roughness values was studied. Finally, the wettability of the modified surface of the CoCrMo alloy after polishing was tested. The results confirm the ability of magnetorheological polishing to improve the surface quality of CoCrMo alloys, which has a certain guiding significance for the development of advanced biomedical implants.