Wear of abrasive media and its effect on abrasive flow machining results

•Wear of abrasive media occurs due to application in abrasive flow machining.•Wear of carrier and particles influences process efficiency and machining results.•Viscosity and elasticity rise due to entry of debris and increased finest fraction.•Increased viscosity and elasticity cause up to 20% worse surface quality.•Blunting of abrasive particles leads up to 30% less material removal.

Abrasive media were examined before and after application in abrasive flow machining to evaluate the wear of media due to the machining process. Both media were tested on workpieces under the same working conditions to study the effect of abrasive media wear on the results of the machining process. With the help of rheological and granulometric characterisation methods, it has been shown that alterations of rheological behaviour and composition of the abrasive medium as well as particle shape and size are responsible for the degradation of the abrasive efficiency. The increasing viscosity of the abrasive medium and progressing rounding of the large abrasive particles as a result of the machining process are the main factors that cause a decreased material removal rate and reduced surface quality.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (284 K)Download as PowerPoint slide