Effect of polishing angle on material removal rate and surface finish using bonded abrasive pads

The paper presents a research on a 7-axis CNC polishing machine designed to polish Nickel based materials. It investigates the effect of polishing angle on material removal rate and surface finish of Inconel 718 using bonded abrasives. The polishing kinematics was analyzed and discussed in terms of surface generation. The patterns of surface lay are compared under different polishing conditions. An optimized polishing parameter was obtained by using Taguchi method to ensure that factors directly affecting the machine are kept constant and at maximum efficiency. A high polishing angle does not necessarily produce a high surface roughness and a high removal rate as expected. The pressure distribution between the workpiece and the tool has important roles to play. The polished surfaces topography was measured by both contact measurement using a stylus probe method and non-contact measurement using a white light interferometer. The paper also presents a discussion of the differences between the surface roughness values Ra and Sa in relation to polishing performance.