Types Of Fluid Polishing Machines And Areas Of Application

Although there are many polishing machines on the market called fluid polishers, the only real fluid polishers are abrasive flow and magneto-rheological. Depending on the abrasives and their function, fluid polishers like abrasive flow can be broadly divided into 3 categories, namely standard abrasive flow (semi-solid abrasives), high speed abrasive flow (liquid abrasives) and micro-porous polishers (special fluid abrasives). All three types of fluid polishers offer unique advantages in different application scenarios.

1. Micro-hole polishing machine

First of all, the micro-hole polishing machine, micro-hole polishing machine used by the abrasive is a very special granularity of very small liquid-like abrasive, in a few filaments of micro-hole will not block the hole, and at the same time there is an extremely strong grinding cutting power. The most special feature of this fluid polisher is, of course, that the flow rate can be controlled online in real time and is stable at less than 0.7%, basically around 0.3%.

2. Liquid High Speed Abrasive Flow

Liquid high speed flow deburring is an advanced process that removes foreign objects and burrs by squeezing special liquid suspension abrasives at high pressure and passing them through the internal channels and cross holes of the part to form frictional grinding. Liquid high speed flow deburring is tens of times more powerful than high pressure water deburring at the same pressure, and can remove flanged burrs that cannot be removed by high pressure water. The deburred part is easy to clean and leaves no abrasive residue on the workpiece, making it a more suitable liquid deburring technique for complex internal cavities or cross holes, and more friendly for workpieces with high cleanliness standards.

Liquid suspension abrasives are different from conventional AFM abrasives, which become harder (or more viscous) as they encounter restricted flow. However, liquid high-speed flow increases in speed as the viscosity of the abrasive decreases. This reduction in viscosity allows the abrasive to flow through very small pores and independent of the pore length, and maintains a uniform distribution of the abrasive particles. This particular fluid behaviour, combined with the use of smaller abrasive particles in a range of diameters, the selection of abrasives with different particle sizes and/or concentrations, and the adjustment of process formulation parameters, allows liquid high speed flow deburring in most metals and many ceramic/crystal substrates for high volume, low cost processing.

It is worth noting that liquid high speed flow deburring is second to none in terms of maintaining the accuracy of the workpiece, with removal amounts in the range of a few microns or even lower. For thin-walled workpieces that other processes cannot handle, Liquid High Speed Flow can do the same!

3. Conventional abrasive flow

Finally, the standard abrasive grain flow, through the introduction of the first two fluid polishing machine, we can also easily distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of the standard abrasive grain flow, it is powerful, polishing after the roughness is very good, so suitable for most of the inner hole polishing, cross-hole deburring, and tooth surface and surface polishing. For example, the majority of automotive parts, impeller blades, booster turbine housings, mould interiors, tube workpieces, etc. However, due to the characteristics of semi-solid abrasives, they are not suitable for deburring complex internal cavities, micro-hole grinding and especially for grinding micro-hole workpieces that require calculated flow rates.