Abrasive flow finishing of micro-channel produced by selective laser melting

ABSTRACT

Abrasive flow machining (AFM) process and ultrasonically assisted AFM technique (UAAFM) were carried out to polish micro-channel internal faces produced by selective laser melting (SLM). Both numerical simulation and experimental studies were investigated. Simulation results confirmed that the distribution of the flow velocity, absolute pressure, and turbulence intensity inside the S-shaped micro-channel exhibit significantly different. After loading ultrasonic-vibration, cavitation can indeed enhance the turbulence intensity. As the ultrasonic frequency increases, the cavitation area and turbulent kinetic energy increase accordingly. A set of AFM and UAAFM experiments were conducted. Compared with traditional AFM process, UAAFM owns better surface roughness and more uniform material removal at the same experimental condition.

Keywords:

• Selective
• laser
• melting
• abrasive
• particles
• simulation
• ultrasonic
• vibration
• surface
• roughness
• microchannel

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Professor Wang Cunshan (Dalian University of Technology) for the aids with simulation experiments.

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.