Investigation into the mechanism for ultra smooth electrorheological finishing using wheel-like finishing tool

This paper focus on the mechanism of electrorheological finishing. The Body Centered Tetragonal physical combination model of polishing fluid constituents including starch and ceria particles was built, and finite element method was employed to simulate electric field distribution around polishing wheel. Experiments were carried out under varying supply voltage and operating distance. The polishing footprint depth increases from less than 0.025–0.1 μm while particle force increases from 2.03 × 10⁻⁷ N to 4.39 × 10⁻⁷ N under increasing supply voltage, and decreases from 0.057 μm to very little removal while particle force decreases from 3.63 × 10⁻⁷ N to 1.47 × 10⁻⁷ N under broadening operating distance. In the meantime, the experiments proved the significant relationship between particle force and material removal capability. Finally, the 1.04 nm roughness of polishing spot showed the prospect of this method for ultra-smooth finishing.