Impact of fluid abrasive viscosity on machining performance

Abrasive Flow Machining is widely employed for machining complex internal surfaces, with the fluid abrasive being crucial to machining quality. However, research on fluid abrasive performance is limited, and no standardized evaluation method exists. This paper developed a siloxane-based fluid abrasive and analyzed the impact of its viscosity on material removal. Through processing experiments, the effects of abrasive grain size and content on machining quality were explored. And the viscosity curve of the fluid abrasive was fitted. Results showed that reducing abrasive content from 60% to 40% increased surface roughness by 15.567% and decreased material removal depth by 56.623%. In contrast, increasing particle size from 80 mu m to 700 mu m decreased surface roughness by 47.057% and boosted material removal depth by 115.350%. The Cross equation provides the best fit for the viscosity curve (R-2 > 0.990). Finally, a novel method for evaluating fluid abrasive performance was proposed and validated.