Title: Enhancing tribological and corrosion performance of SLM fabricated AlSi12Mg components through ultrasonic assisted magnetic abrasive finishing

Authors: Maraboina Raju; Pasam Vamsi Krishna

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Warangal, Warangal, Telangana, 506004, India

Abstract: Selective laser melting (SLM) is one of the most important additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, which produces complex parts through layer-by-layer fabrication. However, some crucial issues such as poor surface quality and lack of dimensional accuracy that directly affect wear resistance, hardness, and corrosion properties, must be addressed before SLM parts can be widely used in real-time applications. Ultrasonic assisted magnetic abrasive finishing (UAMAF) is a hybrid finishing process that combines ultrasonic vibrations with traditional magnetic abrasive finishing (MAF) processes to process surfaces up to nanometre scale in the least possible time. This paper focuses on developing UAMAF framework and finishing SLM-produced parts made of AlSi12Mg alloy with unbonded silicon carbide abrasives. EDAX analysis showed no change in elemental composition when UAMAF combined with grinding was employed and the drop in hardness was 6.34% and 24.94% in non-heat-treated and heat-treated samples, respectively. Wear tests conducted on these samples revealed that the heat-treated ground-finished samples were less prone to the total wear. Corrosion tests conducted on the samples showed UAMAF reduced corrosion rate which is 95.69% and 91.35% in heat-treated and non-heat-treated samples, respectively.

Keywords: UAMAF; selective laser melting; SLM; micro hardness; wear analysis; corrosion analysis; SiC abrasives; magnetic abrasive finishing; MAF.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSURFSE.2025.144838

International Journal of Surface Science and Engineering, 2025 Vol.19 No.1, pp.22 - 42

Received: 23 Sep 2023
Accepted: 18 Nov 2023
Published online: 04 Mar 2025 *

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