Electrolysis combined shear thickening polishing method

Electrolysis compounded shear thickening polishing (E-STP) was proposed to increase the polishing efficiency of the difficult-to-machine metal. A 316 L stainless steel workpiece was employed in the experiments. The effects of current density, duty ratio, supply frequency, polishing speed, and abrasive concentration on the polishing material removal rate (MRR) and surface roughness of workpiece were examined through single factor experiment. The surface roughness Ra drops from 315 nm to 5 nm with MRR 57 mu m/h in 15 mins' processing under the conditions with current density of 0.3 A/cm(2), the duty ratio of 0.625, power supply frequency of 100 kHz, the polishing speed of 2.09 m/s, and the abrasive concentration of 12 wt%. A mathematic model of MRR was established, and the difference of MRR between the theoretical and experimental results is <12 %. As revealed by the results, E-STP can serve as a high efficiency polishing method for the difficult-to-machine metal.