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Nanofinishing of freeform surfaces using abrasive flow finishing process

Article  in  Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers Part B Journal of Engineering Manufacture · September 2015
DOI: 10.1177/0954405415599913

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Mithun Sarkar Vijay Kumar Jain

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Original Article

Proc IMechE Part B:

J Engineering Manufacture
1–15
Nanofinishing of freeform surfaces Ó IMechE 2015
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DOI: 10.1177/0954405415599913
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Mithun Sarkar1 and VK Jain2

Abstract
Freeform complex surfaces have become an essential part of many devices to perform the required functions. Many of
these components require nanometer-level surface finish to perform the desired functions efficiently. In this work, an
attempt has been made to improve the external morphology of freeform surfaces, especially knee joint, by abrasive flow
finishing process. A uniform mirror finished surface with improved finishing rate is achieved for stainless steel knee joint.
Extrusion pressure is varied to reduce final surface roughness value and finishing time. Experimentally, good surface finish
ranging from (Ra) 42.9 to 62.5 nm is achieved at various locations of the knee joint which are within the recommended
American Society for Testing and Materials standard (’100 nm) of knee joint prosthesis. Effects of abrasive flow finishing
process parameters are investigated to develop ‘‘know how’’ of the process on the freeform surfaces. Abrasive flow fin-
ishing process has given 76.56% reduction in finishing time as compared to the time required by ‘‘ball end’’ type tool used
for finishing knee joint.

Keywords
Freeform surfaces, nanofinishing, knee joint, abrasive flow finishing

Date received: 25 November 2014; accepted: 13 July 2015

Introduction Functions, fabrication, and finishing of

Currently, about 5 million people in the world are dis-
eased by arthritis. This painful inflammation is often
cured by an artificial knee joint replacement.1 It is a
well-known fact that in the developed countries, the
percentage of elderly persons within the total popula-
tion is growing fast. This demographic shift has tre-
mendously increased the health care demands for
aged persons.2 Osteoarthritis is the gradual degenera-
tion (necrosis) of the natural cartilage tissue, which
plays an important role in the load bearing and fric-
tion minimizing functions of hip and knee joints. The
health problems due to this tissue break down can be
treated by prescribing anti-inflammatory drugs and
exercise. In extreme cases, the replacement of all or
part of the knee joint with artificial implants or pros-
thetics is the last resort. At present, the life span of
such systems is 5–15 years.2 Increasing life expectancy
and practice of extreme sports, obesity and hectic life-
style are leading to increased wear of bones and
joints. One of the effective ways to overcome these
problems is the implantation of an artificial joint.
The main weight bearing joints of the body like knee
and hip joints are the principal target of such
replacements.
artificial knee joint
Knee joint implants typically consist of metallic femoral
and tibial components with a plastic polyethylene insert
kept between them to restore joint function as shown in
Figure 1. The knee joint is subjected to a complex com-
bination of sliding and rotational movements. Wear by
abrasion is one of the main causes for failure of artifi-
cial knee joint over time. The relative movement
between the metal and plastic can result in crack forma-
tion or delamination of the polyethylene. It may also
lead to a situation that microscopic particles will break
off and in turn attack body’s immune system. This con-
dition is known as osteolysis—a loss of bone tissue,
which can lead to the failure of the implant. As a result,
the patient needs to undergo another surgery to receive
a new implant.3
1
Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge Technologies, Nuzvid, India
2
Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology
Kanpur, Kanpur, India
Corresponding author:
VK Jain, Mechanical Engineering Department, Indian Institute of
Technology Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India. E-mail: vkjain@iitk.ac.in

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2 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture
Figure 1. Worn-out bone and knee joint replacement.3.
For fabrication of an artificial knee joint, mechani-
cal engineering comes to rescue. Usually, five- or seven-
axes computerized numerical control (CNC) milling
machine is employed to fabricate condylar joints made
from high wear resistant, biocompatible, corrosion
resistant, hard alloys like Ti-6Al-4V and ceramics. It
results in deep milling marks or cusps, and lays are left
behind. Appendix 1 gives an overview of the different
types of materials used to make femoral components.
Finishing of these kinds of components with sub-
micrometer form accuracy and surface finish in the
nanometric range is thought to be the most complex
and difficult of all finishing processes.4 Traditionally,
robotic grinding and belt grinding have been tried to
finish these orthopedic implants below 100 nm Ra
value. To prevent contamination, tissue growth, and
injury to muscle and to minimize friction, such a low
surface finish is a stringent requirement. As far as fati-
gue life is concerned, it is the surface finish at the con-
tact points that affects both performance and
functional life of the implants. Smooth surface ensures
that no contaminants can reside inside the contact sur-
faces. If surface integrity is not maintained then it
would lead to a premature failure.
Charlton and Blunt2 developed a new technique
which has been adopted to polish freeform knee joint
surfaces. The manufacturing path utilizes a seven-axes
CNC Zeeko polishing machine to polish knee joint sur-
faces to the required form and finish improving the life
time of the replacement. At Huddersfield, surface finish
of Sa = 2.8 nm was realized in a knee joint section pol-
ishing automatically on a Zeeko IPR 200 machine. The
machine uniquely uses an inflated bulged polymer pol-
ishing head or bonnet as the lap medium in combina-
tion with water-based polishing slurries. The key
feature of the Zeeko polishing machine is an adaptive
pressure-tool tuned automatically to the local surface
irregularities.4
In this study, abrasive flow finishing (AFF) has been
employed to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks
and limitations of the traditional finishing processes
and to develop a novel finishing technique with high
finishing rate (FR) and uniform surface finish. In this
article, the work is focused only on the knee joint; how-
ever, this process can also be employed to finish other
freeform surfaces used in engineering and medical are-
nas with a change in fixtures and process variables.
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Mechanism of material removal in
abrasive flow machining process
Abrasive flow machining (AFM, also called as AFF
process) is mainly used in the defense, aerospace, mold,
automobile, and other industries for finishing, debur-
ring and sharp edge rounding, removing recast layer,
and producing compressive residual stresses in a wide
range of applications.5–9 Inaccessible areas and com-
plex internal passages can be finished economically and
effectively. The typical AFM (two-way flow) process
uses two vertically opposed cylinders which extrude an
abrasive laden semi-solid medium back and forth
through the fluid circuit formed by the workpiece and
the fixtures.10 The workpiece and fixture are held
between upper and lower cylinders, and the medium
(homogeneous mixture of viscoelastic base material,
abrasive particles, and additives) is encapsulated in the
space between them. Under the presence of external
force, the medium is extruded by the piston of the
upper cylinder to pass through the passage between
workpiece and fixture, to the lower cylinder. The work-
piece surface in the passage is the surface to be fin-
ished.11 The extrusion pressure, traveling length, and
number of reciprocating cycles are controlled.12
The fundamental principle behind the AFM process
is to use a large number of random cutting edges with
indefinite orientation and geometry. The extremely fine
chips produced in AFM result in better surface finish
and generation of more intricate surface features.13,14
The abrasive particles are held firmly in place at the
contact point and the medium becomes a ‘‘self-deform-
able grinding stone’’ which adapts to the passage geo-
metry.15 Medium viscosity temporarily rises due to high
restriction and returns to the normal value after the slug
has passed that zone.6 AFM is mostly used for finishing
of internal surfaces. To finish an external surface, addi-
tional tooling is generally required to ensure that the
flow gap between the external surface and the tooling is
sufficiently tight for adequate abrasive action.7 Large
surface irregularities, such as deep scratches, out of
roundness, lays, and large bumps, cannot be removed
by AFM process because material is removed almost
uniformly.16
Furthermore, these prosthetics are made of very
high-strength material (mentioned in Appendix 1).
These joints are not hollow or thin. They are unlikely to
deform under the influence of hydraulic pressure. The
fixtures are made of EN8 mild steel and Teflon. These
materials are weaker than workpiece. Even the fixtures
did not deform, so the shape accuracy is ensured.
Literature survey
Jain and Adsul17 carried out experimental research on
AFF and concluded that the dominant process para-
meter is % concentration of abrasive, followed by
abrasive mesh size, number of cycles, and medium flow
speed. Gorana et al.18,19 reported that cutting force
Sarkar and Jain
components and active particles’ density govern the
surface roughness produced during AFF process.
However, effect of medium temperature on AFF effi-
ciency was not studied. The theoretical and experimen-
tal research of thermal properties of medium was
carried out by Fletcher and Fioravanti.20 Davies and
Fletcher21 experimentally found that viscosity of the
medium is significantly affected by the medium tem-
perature. Jain and Jain22 also reported the effects of
specific energy and temperature on AFF responses.
They reported that the medium temperature increases
with number of finishing cycles and extrusion pressure.
They also found that both theoretical and empirical
studies of AFF are greatly hampered by the inherent
random nature and multiplicity of variables. The
medium is non-Newtonian in nature, particles are ran-
domly distributed and the entire process is encapsu-
lated. The variables are interdependent which further
complicates the studies. Thus, the material removal
mechanism is only partially understood.
Jain et al.23 and Jain and Jain22 applied artificial
neural network (ANN) approach to analyze the AFF
process. They concluded that with the increase in num-
ber of cycles, material removal rate (MRR), which is
comparatively high initially, decreases afterwards.
Initially, the surface has sharp peaks, which are sheared
more easily and become somewhat flatter than before.
Further finishing of this flat surface would require
higher tangential force, hence MRR decreases. Jain et
al.24 and Jain and Jain25 applied finite element simula-
tion approach to model AFM process to evaluate stres-
ses and forces. Fang et al.26 criticized their model by
saying that abrasive particles are not only sliding but
also rolling, which would reduce MRR. The shear thin-
ning properties of the abrasive fluid can be determined
using rheometrical devices as reported by Carreau et
al.27 Experimental results25 showed that material
removal is also governed by the initial surface finish
and workpiece hardness. Based on two-body wear, they
proposed their mathematical model which included
operating parameters to explain wear in AFF process.
However, theoretical results of surface roughness could
not match very well with the experimental data. It can
be found that the assumptions were somewhat over
simplified and unrealistic because abrasive particles
were assumed to be spherical in shape and wear process
was assumed to be only cutting without plastic defor-
mation. It was the first time to predict forces from
rheological properties of the medium in AFM process
when Gorana et al.19 developed a two-body abrasive
mathematical model to predict radial and axial forces
on a single abrasive particle. It has been shown experi-
mentally that material removal increases with piston
pressure and is highly dependent on the force acting on
the abrasive particles.26 Bähre et al.28 developed an in-
process measurement set up in order to measure the
influence of the applied medium pressure on the
machined part of the workpiece with the help of an
axial force sensor. Wang et al.29 used computational
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3
fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation to find the optimal
core shape for complex holes where uniform shear
stress generates uniform surface roughness.
A freeform surface made of stainless steel (SS) simi-
lar to the actual knee joint was fabricated to investigate
the viability and superiority of the AFF process. This
process is thought to be an alternative finishing tech-
nique to the traditional time-consuming and costly belt
grinding process. The novelty of the process is that it
can simultaneously finish different surfaces of a prod-
uct, contrary to the traditional techniques. The motiva-
tion was to find out the best process parameters in the
prescribed range, an appropriate fixture design, and
medium formulation. This will eliminate the stringent
requirements of tool hardness/rigidity and defined cut-
ting edge and address the problem of finishing difficult-
to-machine sculptured surfaces. A comparative review
of AFF process with other nanofinishing processes has
been reported by Jain et al.30
AFF system
Experimental set up
The main components of AFF system are AFF set up,
fixture or tooling, and medium. AFF fixture or tooling
guides the abrasive medium and holds the workpiece,
which is placed in between the upper and lower medium
cylinders. Uniform and sufficient gap between the
workpiece and fixture helps the medium to achieve nec-
essary uniform velocity while passing through the work-
piece contour. Every workpiece needs its own clamp.
The clamp is very important and it decides the AFF
performance.31,32
Surface roughness will not be uniform when a com-
plex hole is polished by AFF process. Wang et al.29
reported that CFD numerical method can be used to
design good passage ways to find the smooth surface
on the complex hole in AFF process. Velocity, strain
rates, and shear forces applied by the medium acting
on the workpiece surface were computed using CFD
approach, while keeping pressure as constant. Their
results demonstrated that the desired shape of the mold
core inserted into the hole results in uniform roughness
on the surface.
In AFF process, it is possible to control and select
the intensity and location of abrasion by appropriate
fixture design. Two cylinders were fabricated to easily
accommodate knee joint-spider assembly (Figure 2(a)),
sealed and sandwiched between the pistons. Figure 2(b)
shows a sectioned view of the spider and its dimen-
sions. Mild steel (EN8) was chosen for fixture fabrica-
tion because of ease of fabrication and cost. The wall
thickness should be sufficient to withstand large
hydraulic pressure. Gaskets should be inserted between
the cylinders to prevent medium leakage. Medium pas-
sage width is not uniform as shown in Figure 2(c) (for
simplicity of the diagram, spider is not shown). The
exploded view of the figure (in the side) shows chip
4 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

Figure 2. (a) Photograph of a knee joint held in a spider, (b) sectioned view of spider with dimensions, and (c) knee joint in the AFF
set up.

formation, the forces acting on the knee joint, and Table 1. Hardness and density of some abrasives and
abrasive particles. workpiece materials.
One flywheel-shaped spider (Figure 2(b)) with three
arms was fabricated by abrasive water jet cutting. It Material Vickers hardness (HV) Density (g/cm3)
was designed so as to maintain a balance between
Stainless steel* 220 7.85
strength and effective area available for the medium
SiC 240 1.52
extrusion. Fixing knee joint ahead of the flow itself will B4C 320 1.82
reduce the effective area to a great extent. This axial Ti-6Al-4V* 360 4.42
obstacle offered by the projected area of workpiece CBN 450 2.28
(knee joint) will increase load on the spider and pistons. Diamond 700 3.52
So, the spider material should have high bending and CBN: cubic boron nitride; * implies that stainless steel and Ti-6Al-4V are
shear strength. SS is a good choice. The spider has a workpiece materials.
central hole where knee joint is held by means of a
bolted joint (Figure 2(a)). The dimensions are shown in Commercial medium contains polyborosiloxane or silly
the schematic diagram (Figure 2(b)). The thickness of putty as base carrier; diamond, boron carbide (B4C), or
the spider is 5 mm. The entire assembly is held between silicon carbide (SiC) as abrasive; and some additives/
the lower and upper cylinders. The edges of the ribs plasticizers. Base carrier also acts as a binder for abra-
were rounded off for smooth flow of medium and to sives and transmits force from the piston to the
minimize pressure loss due to separation. abrasives.
Actual prototype of knee joint is made of Ti-6Al-
4V, which is harder than SiC and B4C as shown in
Medium formulation and preparation Table 1. A SS knee joint was fabricated for the present
Important part of a successful AFF system is medium. investigations. SiC (mesh sizes 1000, 1500, and 2000)
The medium loses its finishing capability with time due was used as abrasive because it is harder than SS. The
to fracture and wear of abrasive particles and mixing of medium is made by mixing silicone oil, boric acid, poly-
the removed workpiece material with the medium. dimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and other additives. This

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Sarkar and Jain
non-Newtonian pseudo plastic fluid shows unusual
properties under different ranges of strain rate. It is a
viscoelastic fluid. Silly putty can be characterized as a
shear thickening fluid. High elasticity helps abrasives
indent deep and high viscosity helps retaining the abra-
sive particles intact against shearing of the workpiece
surface protrusion. High viscosity medium is required
to finish large internal passage or external contour, and
very low viscous slurry type medium is needed for
micro channel and nozzle-type workpiece. Viscosity
can be increased either using high viscous polymer or
by increasing percentage of abrasives.33
The polymer used is mainly elastic in nature. But for
high FR, high viscosity is essential. Miscibility of abra-
sive in polymer is low. Plasticizer or softener is mixed
to achieve the desired medium properties, that is, easy
flow ability. These are low molecular weight and low
viscous compounds, which get mixed with the polymer
and increase softness. Silicone oil, naphthenic oil,
toluene, varnish oil, and hydrocarbon oil can be used
as plasticizer. They diffuse in between the polymer
chains and increase the distance between the chains. It
reduces cohesive force and internal friction of polymer
chains.
For the present investigation, multigrade hydrocar-
bon oil was used because of its compatibility with silly
putty. Its content should not be very high as the
medium becomes oily and sticky. The plasticizer devel-
ops a very thin protective coating on the workpiece sur-
face, which prevents interaction between abrasives and
workpiece surface. Most widely used mold releasing
agent, namely, zinc stearate, is used as an additive to
exploit its non-sticky and lubricating properties. It
reduces plasticizer requirement to a great extent, and
thus, oiliness is avoided. It also reduces brittleness of
the medium and develops a continuous mass.
The mixing of the ingredients is done using two-roll
mills (150 mm diameter rolls, 7.5 HP motor) in the tem-
perature range of 40 °C–55 °C. The mixing is carried
out as per ASTM D 3182-89 with mastication, which
means breaking down of molecular chains of polymer.
This is very necessary because it improves homogeneity
and acceptability of polymer for abrasive particles.34
The impact of abrasive percentage on polishing effi-
ciency is paramount, but with the increase in abrasive
percentage, the flow ability of the medium diminishes.18
That is why, a maximum ratio of SiC/Silly putty =
55:45 (by weight) is chosen.
Experimentation
Plan of experiments
AFF is influenced by a number of parameters but in
this work only pressure was varied to make preliminary
study about feasibility in nanofinishing of knee joints
using AFF process to compare the finishing time
required and uniformity of finishing across the face as
well as different faces. The pressure was varied at 20,
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5
22, and 24 bars. At first, 1000 mesh size abrasive was
chosen and the medium with SiC/Silly putty level =
50:50 was carefully prepared with other additives.
Three experiments were conducted each for 1500 cycles
with 20, 22, and 24 bar pressure. Then, the composition
of the SiC/Silly Putty was changed to 55:45 ratio.
Measurement of surface finish
Measurement of the surface finish of freeform surface is
as difficult as finishing it. One swiveling device was cho-
sen which can hold as well as tilt the workpiece to make
the area of the surface under investigation horizontal.
A linear tactile probe SurfTest SV-2100M4 was used to
measure surface roughness of the knee joint. The
roughness is measured in the direction perpendicular to
the finishing direction on the same point before and
after finishing experiments. Initially, the idea was to
measure roughness at 10 points per face. But it was not
possible to measure where the surface has slope in mul-
tiple directions because sufficient approach length and
evaluation length were not found. It is difficult to align
a three-dimensional (3D) curved surface horizontally
by manual control. The measurements at those points
were not repeatable and erratic in nature. So, the points
only on simple curved areas were chosen. The exact
location of the point of measurement is identified with
the help of a transparent template prepared for this pur-
pose. In these experiments, the final surface roughness
(Ra) value of the previous experiment becomes initial
surface roughness (Ra) value for the next experiment.
Special optical profilometer, software control, and tilt-
ing mechanism are needed for reliable and accurate
measurement of freeform surfaces. Tactile probe is not
able to follow ups and downs and contour of freeform
surface. However, the only alternative seems to be feasi-
ble is to measure the surface roughness variation in
both directions (X and Y) and compare it with the origi-
nal (i.e. before finishing) values of surface finish in X-
and Y-directions. Atomic force microscope (AFM)
image was taken only on plane surfaces because of sen-
sitivity and limitation of the instrument; 25 3 25 mm2
area was chosen for the investigation.
The preliminary experiments were conducted to
study the effect of extrusion pressure on % change in
Ra and FR. % Change in Ra is calculated as {(DRa/ini-
tial Ra) 3 100}, where DRa = (initial Ra 2 final Ra).
Here, Ra is centre line average (CLA) surface rough-
ness measured in micrometers. FR (nm/min) is calcu-
lated as {(DRa/finishing time in min) 3 1000}. The
initial and final surface roughness of each part is mea-
sured by SurfTest machine.
The coordinates of the points were measured on a
CNC machine. Tangents were drawn (as shown in
Figure 3) in the solid model of the knee joint by
SolidWorks software at the identified points, and the
angles of inclination (u) were evaluated (Table 2).
Then, the knee joint was held in a vice where there is a
provision to tilt the knee joint at the desired angle (u).
6 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

Figure 3. (a) Inclination of identified points, (b) force acting on the convex workpiece surface and distance of the workpiece
surface from the fixture or cylinder wall, and (c) free body diagram of forces acting on face 1.

Table 2. Inclination angles of the measuring points at different faces (1–4).

Face Point 1 Point 2 Point 3 Point 4 Point 5

1 9.15° 12.04° 27.50° 38.55° 44.40°

2 16.54° 27.57° 26.09° 7.01° 0°
3 2.69° 6.55° 17.38° 6.55° 6.55°
4 10.38° 16.59° 27.84° 1.05° 0°

The knee joint was tilted to the opposite of the corre-
sponding angle to align it horizontally.
Results and discussion
Best results of surface roughness measurements and
topography are shown in Figures 4 and 5, respectively.
Initial and final surface roughness on each face on a
certain point with corresponding surface roughness
reduction ratio is shown in Figure 4. It is clearly seen
that significant reduction ( . 72%) has been achieved.
However, optimization of the process parameters
would result in a higher % DRa. Topography was
taken by atomic force microscope on flat surfaces
(faces 2 and 4) only. Figure 5 shows the initial and final
surface topography.
The effects of different process parameters on the
responses (% change in Ra, FR, final Ra) have been
discussed in the following sections. There are four faces
of the knee joint. For each face, surface roughness value
was measured at 5 points. However, for comparison
purposes, surface finish only at three critical points (i.e.
at different angles) was considered. Variation in Ra
value on all the three points with a variation in pressure
has been considered.
Inclination angle
Knee joint is a complex type of freeform surface. It has
slope in multiple directions which complicates finishing
as well as measurement procedure to a great extent.
The inclination angle (u) (shown in Figure 3(b)) is the

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Sarkar and Jain 7

Figure 4. Different faces of a knee joint, initial surface roughness, final surface roughness, and % reduction in Ra. Finishing
conditions are mesh size of 1500, SiC:Silly Putty = 55:45, and pressure = 24 bar.

Figure 5. Initial and final surface topography measured by atomic force microscope for two faces, faces 2 and 4. Finishing
conditions are mesh size 1500, SiC:Silly Putty = 55:45, and pressure = 24 bar.

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8 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

angle between the vertical direction and the tangent
drawn at the point under consideration in the same
plane (XY, XZ, or YZ). The tangents were drawn in
the solid model of knee joint by SolidWorks software.
Pu is the hydrostatic force acting toward the upper
cylinder and Pb is the hydrostatic force acting toward
the bottom cylinder (Figure 3(c)). They are assumed to
be equal and denoted by P. Due to curvature, the
extrusion force is resolved into shearing force (P.Cosu,
responsible for shearing the surface protrusions) and
normal force (P.Sinu, responsible for abrasive indenta-
tion). Viscoelastic nature of the fluid imparts viscous
force Pv (acting tangentially to the surface) and elastic
force Pe (acting perpendicular to the surface). Thus, the
total tangential force is given by Pt = P.Cosu + Pv.
The total normal force is given by Pn = P.Sinu + Pe.
Almost full abrasion force (P.Cosu) is acting where
the angle u is low. Only a part of the abrading force is
available for shearing where the angle u is high. The
normal force (P.Sinu) is high where the angle (u) is
high. It is the P.Sinu and elastic force Pe exerted by the
medium, which is responsible for indentation.
However, this will be quite different when the medium
is flowing in the reverse direction due to the asymmetry
of the knee joint. Finishing conditions favorable dur-
ing, say, upper stroke may become adverse in the
reverse stroke. If the shearing force available is not
enough at higher depth of penetration, then the abra-
sive particles may roll without cutting.35 Due to rota-
tion of the abrasive particle, the depth of indentation is
decreased. The abrasive particle may then become able
to shear the workpiece material depending upon the
value of the shear force acting on it.
Depending upon the inclination angle, the final Ra,
% DRa, and FR vary as shown in Figure 6. These
results can be interpreted as follows:
1. As the pressure increases, shearing force also
increases. But temperature of the medium also
increases due to abrasion and internal friction. As
a result, viscosity decreases as shown in Figure 7.
This figure clearly shows that with an increase in

Figure 6. Effect of inclination angle on (a) final Ra, (b) % change in Ra, and (c) FR for face 1. Finishing conditions are mesh size 1500,
SiC:Silly Putty = 55:45, pressure = 24 bar, and (d) saddle-like surface on face 1.

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Sarkar and Jain
Figure 7. Shear stress versus shear rate at different
temperatures. Highest peak showing yield stress.
temperature, the medium loses its viscosity; hence,
the abrasive holding capacity against shearing
reduces. These results (Figure 7) pertain to the
medium used in this work. Effect of temperature
on the efficiency of AFF process has been studied
by other researchers also.36,37
2. The same knee joint is finished again and again.
This resulted in gradual improvement in surface
roughness, that is, lower decrease in final Ra value.
It becomes difficult to finish the already finished
surface because the surface asperities had already
become blunt/flat, hence it requires larger force in
each cycle. Finally, it moves toward attaining criti-
cal surface finish. So, the % change in Ra (Figure
6(b)) and FR (Figure 6(c)) also decreased with an
increase in the angle of inclination.
3. If the medium is passing through a convex surface,
it abrades the workpiece surface better as com-
pared to the case if it follows a concave surface.
The medium while finishing face 1 of the knee joint
experiences both increasing and decreasing slope
while moving in two opposite directions, that is, it
is like a saddle (Figure 6(d)). % DRa (Figure 6(b))
and FR (Figure 6(c)) decrease when the inclination
angle (u) increases. As the angle u increases, the
penetrating force increases (P.Sinu), but the shear-
ing force decreases (P.Cosu). As a result, the rate
of % change in Ra and FR decreases. It is visible
from Figure 6(a) that the rate of change in final Ra
is also changing but at a reduced rate.
Extrusion pressure
Final Ra. The pressure and velocity of the extruding
medium are important factors for AFF performance.
The medium flow velocity is governed by the pressure,
passage geometry, and medium rigidity/viscosity.
Enhancing extrusion pressure increases medium flow
velocity. The smaller is the width of the passage, the
bigger is the extruding pressure required.31 Higher
extrusion pressure increases normal and axial forces on
abrasive particles. As a result, abrasive particles indent
to a greater depth and shear workpiece protrusions with
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9
more volume. It also increases number of active abra-
sive particles interacting with the workpiece (knee
joint) effectively. A minimum or threshold pressure is
necessary for piston movement. But increase in pres-
sure beyond a limit may reduce MRR and result in
plowing or smearing of workpiece. At greater indenta-
tion depth, if shearing force required to cut protru-
sions on the workpiece is higher than the available
force, then the abrasive particles will roll rather than
cut.35 There is also a danger of fixture failure and
medium leakage at very high pressure. The medium
may actually yield as a result of severe shearing. Then,
it becomes a gel-like fluid, and it is not able to hold
abrasive particles firmly against abrasion.
Effect of pressure variation on the final surface
roughness (Ra) obtained is shown in Figure 8(a). Final
Ra is decreasing with increase in pressure because abra-
sive can remove asperities more effectively at higher
pressure. As the pressure increases, the workpiece aspe-
rities experience more aggressive shearing; hence, final
Ra value goes down. This behavior is experienced at all
the four faces of the workpiece (Figure 8(a–d)).
% change in Ra
The % DRa value decreases with increasing pressure for
all the four surfaces. However, Figure 9 shows the
results only for faces 1 and 3 which have more complex
surfaces than those of faces 2 and 4. As the pressure
increases, more amount of work is done by the abrasive
particles. Hence, more heat is produced which decreases
the medium viscosity, that means the abrasive holding
strength of the medium goes down. It results in decrease
in % DRa with increase in pressure. The effect of rise in
temperature on shear strength of the medium for a
given shear rate is shown in Figure 7. It shows a sub-
stantial decrease in shear strength of the medium with
an increase in temperature. It also means that lower
pressure is exerted in the direction normal to the work-
piece surface.
Finishing Rate (FR). The effect of extrusion pressure on
FR for faces 1 and 3 is given in Figure 10. The FR
decreases with an increase in pressure (Figure 10) which
can be explained as was explained in the case of final
Ra and % DRa. With an increase in pressure, the
medium viscosity decreases due to an increase in the
medium temperature, hence FR decreases. According
to Preston’s equation, FR is proportional to the force
acting on abrasive particle and its velocity. The appar-
ent violation of Preston’s law is attributed to drastically
reduced viscosity at higher temperature. The medium
becomes a gel-like substance at higher temperature. The
medium pressure increases but the pressure imparted
on the abrasive particle while interacting with the work-
piece surface reduces. The viscosity is not sufficient
enough to hold the abrasive particles against the nor-
mal and shear forces required to remove material from
10 Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture

Figure 8. Effect of pressure variation on final Ra (a–d) (F stands for face, u for inclination angle, and P stands for a point on that
surface). Finishing conditions are mesh size 1500, SiC:Silly Putty = 55:45, and pressure = 20, 22, 24 bar.

Figure 9. Effect of pressure variation on % change in Ra (a) for face 1 and (b) for face 3 (F stands for face, u for angle, and P for
point on that surface). Finishing conditions are mesh size 1500, SiC/Silly putty = 55:45, and pressure = 20, 22, 24 bar. .

the workpiece surface. As a result, the FR decreases
with an increase in pressure.35
Distance from the fixture wall
Surfaces of the knee joint far away from the fixture
wall do not undergo severe shearing as compared to
the surfaces where the gap is smaller. To check this,
some points were colored on the knee joint before the
test run and checked after the finishing was over for a
short period. The color spots were intact only where
the gap is large. In most of the cases, larger the distance
from the wall, larger is final Ra (Figure 11(a)). It can
be attributed to the smaller value of force acting on the
knee joint in that area because of larger cross-sectional
area through which the medium is flowing. The

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Sarkar and Jain 11

Figure 10. Effects of pressure variation on FR (a) for face 1 and (b) for face 3 (F stands for face, u for angle, and P for point on that
surface). Finishing conditions are mesh size 1500, SiC:Silly putty = 55:45, and pressure = 20, 22, 24 bar.

Figure 11. Effect of distance from the wall on (a) final Ra, (b) % change in Ra, and (c) FR. (d) The location of measuring points.
Finishing conditions are mesh size 1500, SiC:Silly Putty = 55:45, and pressure = 24 bar.

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12
viscosity temporarily rises in the areas of larger restric-
tion (or smaller distance from the fixture wall). The
large elastic and viscous components of force abrade
the knee joint more aggressively. The reverse argument
holds true for the smaller restriction (or larger distance
from the wall). In total, 1500 cycles were fixed for each
test run. Surface finish at the site of the greatest restric-
tion was marginally better as compared to the sites
away from the wall (Figure 11(a)). Figure 11(b) shows
that the % DRa decreases with an increase in the dis-
tance of the workpiece surface from the wall of the
cylinder (or fixture). Sites, where the gap is the least,
were finished comparatively faster because of higher
forces acting in that zone. Figure 11(c) shows that the
FR decreases as the distance from the wall increases,
due to lower forces acting on the workpiece through
the abrasive particles. In view of the trends shown in
Figure 11(a) and (b), the FR decreases (Figure 11(c))
with an increase in the distance of the workpiece sur-
face from the fixture wall.
Cleaning of the knee joint
The knee joints should be cleaned by acetone to remove
any traces of chemicals/foreign particles on the surface.
Ultrasonic cleaning should also be done. Mass spectro-
scopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) can be done to
ensure that no residue is there. It is very much unlikely
that any particle will remain embedded to the surface
of hard metals like Ti-6Al-4V. If such particles remain
embedded in the knee joint then they will definitely be
harmful and would create discomfort to the patient.
No such post-operative trouble/physiological imbal-
ance can be related to abrasive flow machined prosthe-
tics. Almost same abrasives are used by the traditional
finishing techniques also. The polymers and other addi-
tives used are not known to be toxic.
Comparison of AFF with
magnetorheological abrasive fluid finishing
and rotational magnetorheological
abrasive fluid finishing processes
Jain and Sidpara38 tried raster finishing in a three-axes
CNC milling machine by magnetorheological abrasive
fluid finishing (MRAFF) process (ball end tool with
magnetorheological (MR) fluid brush (Figure 12)), but
it was taking on an average time of 16.4 h per face for
finishing of titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V) knee joint. The
total finishing time for all the faces in MRAFF process
was 64.7 h even after using diamond abrasive. The rota-
tional magnetorheological abrasive fluid finishing (R-
MRAFF) process has been applied by Satish Kumar39
to reduce the finishing time significantly by finishing all
the faces simultaneously. The total finishing time was
reduced to 24.83 h with SiC abrasive as given in
Table 3. He reported that this one-shot finishing pro-
cess (Figure 13) can be further enhanced using harder
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Proc IMechE Part B: J Engineering Manufacture
Figure 12. MR fluid brush used for finishing knee joint.38.
abrasive particles like cubic boron nitride (CBN) or
diamond and by applying uniform magnetic field.
The comparison in Table 3 cannot be concluded
unless workpiece material, finishing conditions, and ini-
tial surface roughness values are exactly same in all the
three cases. However, comparison between R-MRAFF
and AFF is somewhat rational because of the same
workpiece and abrasive particles. The above compari-
son clearly shows that AFF is a better process in terms
of FR. In MRAFF process, the force acting on individ-
ual abrasive particle is low. In R-MRAFF process, the
medium is viscoplastic and viscosity is quite low as
compared to AFF medium. That is why the extent of
abrasion is low in those two cases but final surface fin-
ish is mirror like. Rotation given to the magnetic field
in R-MRAFF increased the interaction length of abra-
sive particles to a large extent. Non-uniform working
gap has led to different FRs at different locations on
different faces. It is expected that designing a better
passage way using CFD, and temperature control of
the medium during the process, would result in still
higher FR.
Conclusions
A workpiece similar to the knee joint implant was fin-
ished by AFF. The following conclusions can be drawn
from the present investigations:
1. Surface finish ranging from 42.9 to 62.5 nm has
been achieved at various locations which are within
the recommended ASTM standard of knee joint
prosthesis (’100 nm). Such a good surface finish
varying in a narrow range over the full knee joint
would result in better durability, superior tribologi-
cal properties, and higher performance of artificial
knee joint. This will reduce wear rate and enhance
the implant useful life.
2. CFD simulation should be done for the better pas-
sage way or fixture design so that almost equal FR
could be achieved at different locations on different
faces. The use of an inverse and extended replica
Sarkar and Jain 13

Table 3. Comparison of time taken in finishing knee joint using MRAFF, R-MRAFF, and AFF processes.

MRAFF processa R-MRAFF processb AFF processc

Finishing Finishing Surface Finishing Finishing Surface Finishing Finishing Surface
time (h) rate (nm/h) roughness time (h) rate (nm/h) roughness time (h) rate (nm/h) roughness
range (nm) range (nm) range (nm)

Face 1 16.20 2.61 28–92 24.83 6.41 46.9–73.2 15 9.39 46.6–50.4

Face 2 15.60 3.21 37–62 6.62 36–77.8 9.67 47.3–49.7
Face 3 16.40 2.87 29–97 6.64 38.7–51.1 9.43 42.9–59.8
Face 4 16.50 3.78 38–66 5.40 35.4–43.5 9.04 50.5–62.5

MRAFF: magnetorheological abrasive fluid finishing; R-MRAFF: rotational magnetorheological abrasive fluid finishing; AFF: abrasive flow finishing.
a
Workpiece material: Ti-6Al-4V, abrasive: diamond.
b
Workpiece material: stainless steel, abrasive: SiC.
c
Workpiece material: stainless steel, abrasive: SiC.

Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following finan-
cial support for the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article: This work was supported by
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai
(project no. BARC/Works/MoU/321/2011/), and the
Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
New Delhi, India (project no. 22(0479)/09/EMR-II).

Figure 13. Schematic of MRAFF process.39
with some pre-specified gap as a fixture is sug-
gested so that the uniform velocity hence uniform
surface finish can be achieved.
3. AFF process is able to finish all the four faces at
the same time with comparatively higher FR, and
hence, taking lesser time of finishing.
4. Medium temperature control is the key to success.
It has paramount effects on performance of the
medium.
Acknowledgements
Authors acknowledge the help of Mr Sanjeev K. Verma
of Manufacturing Science Laboratory, IIT Kanpur,
during the fabrication of the set up and conducting the
experiments. Authors also acknowledge the help of Dr
Nadeem Faruqui of Ortho Center Kanpur and Mr
Nabeel Faruqui of Jaypee University of Engineering
and Technology, Raghogarh (India) in preparing
Appendix 1.
Declaration of conflicting interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest
with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publi-
cation of this article.
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 Sarkar and Jain 15

Appendix 1

Details of composition of knee joint material and their reference.

Name Composition Specification Company origin Reference

1. Johnson & Cobalt–Chromium Larger contact area New Jersey, United www.jnjindia.com
Johnson States
Reduced contact stress
Cross-linked Use of cross-linked polyethylene
polyethylene reduces wear and restricts failure due
to oxidation
2. Zimmer Cobalt– High degree of active flexion (up to Indiana, United www.zimmer.com
Chromium– 15° to 5°) States
Molybdenum
Enhanced stability
UHMWPEa Extensor mechanismb provided
3. Stryker Tritaniumc Better fit due to a broader range of Michigan, United www.stryker.com
sizes States
Reduced wear and longer life
(By use of additive Improved motion (up to 150°)
manufacturing)
X3 polyethylene Better mechanical strength than
conventional polyethylene
4. Smith & Oxiniumd Surface hardness twice that of Cobalt– London, United www.smith-nephew.com
Nephew Chromium Kingdom
20% lighter than Cobalt–Chromium
\ 0.0035% nickel causing lesser
allergic reactions
Ceramic Use of ceramic in place of UHMWPE
causes resistance to scratches and
abrasions.
a
UHMWPE: ultra high molecular weight polyethylene. This is the material used traditionally to make the cartilage part of the knee implant.
b
Extensor Mechanism refers to the expanding or straightening mechanism of a joint. In knee joints, it is brought about by quadriceps tendon, patella,
and patellar tendon.
c
Tritanium is highly porous metal biologic fixation technology developed by Stryker by use of 3D printing technology/additive manufacturing with the
help of titanium powder made of various layers forming a complex porous structure.
d
Oxinium refers to oxidized zirconium. A material developed by Smith and Nephew having ceramicized metal bearing surface for better results.

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