FINE FINISHING OF BALLS WITH BIODEGRADABLE MEDIA by Gourav Sharma
Abstract
Fine finished balls whether metallic or non-metallic have many applications mainly in moving mechanical parts, for making toys, jewellery, computer hardware, watches, etc. These balls are generally manufactured by using conventional lapping process. In this study the fine finishing of balls
has been explored by modifying an existing setup used for lapping of balls. An alternative media comprising of aloe vera and silicon carbide powder was used in place of conventional oil based media. The improved setup gave encouraging results for finishing of mild steel balls. A variety of input factors like finishing time, spring force, rotational speed of spindle, abrasive quantity have been used and their effect on intensity of finishing of balls, material removal and roundness for a given set of balls has been studied. It was found that for a given set of balls the maximum percentage improvement in surface finish achieved was 82.3%, material removal rate was 7.56 and the roundness was improved from 31μm to 9.05μm.
