EXPLORING ECO-FRIENDLY ALTERNATIVES: BABASSU AND MORINGA OILS AS VISCOELASTIC ELEMENTS IN ABRASIVE FLOW MACHINING FOR IMPROVE SURFACE QUALITY OF METALLIC ALLOYS

Abstract

Creating a new viscoelastic mixture for the AFM machining process based on babassu coconut and moringa vegetable oils, gypsum, and silicon carbide is the main objective of the work. For the validation of this mixture, tests with different combinations of three numbers of cycles and two metallic alloys – SAE 1045 steel alloy and ASTM 1050 aluminum alloy – are performed so that the results of surface roughness and mass reduction of the specimens are statistically analyzed. The evaluated parameters were the percentage reductions in the roughness of the machined surface by the Ra, Rq, and Rz parameters, and the amount of material extracted. It was possible to prove the effectiveness of the proposed mixture, with a maximum reduction of 90.93% in the roughness of the aluminum alloy specimens, with constant improvement depending on the number of cycles. Positive results were obtained in the SAE 1045 alloys, with a maximum reduction of 56.09%, but with the need for a more significant number of cycles to prove the linear relationship between reduction in roughness and the number of cycles. The proposed abrasive paste proved promising for application in machining alloys with low mechanical strength, showing potential within low-cost and environment-friendly proposals.