Parametric Study in Surface Finishing of Inconel 718 Surface with Magnetic Abrasive Finishing Process

Inconel 718 is a nickel based alloy, used in high pressure and temperature applications, due to its high strength and thermal resistance properties. Machining of Inconel 718 is very difficult due to its toughness. Surface finishing of Inconel 718 is also a difficult task to deal with. In the present work, the magnetic, abrasive finishing process has been used for external surface finishing of Inconel 718 flat surfaces (5 mm thick plate). A number of experiments have been designed and conducted, to study the effect of three selected process parameters, i.e., processing time, pole rotation speed and weight percentage of abrasives, on percentage improvement in surface finish. An ANOVA has been used to analyze the experimental results. Experimental results indicate that, all the above mentioned parameters have considerable effect on surface finishing, of Inconel 718. Effect of different process parameters on surface microstructure has also been observed, using scanning electron microscopy.