Liquid-Abrasive Machining

mechanical treatment for the purpose of cleaning, grinding, and polishing parts, as well as for hardening their surfaces. Liquid abrasive machining is done with special apparatus, in which the parts are treated with solutions of anticorrosion liquids and abrasive powders or granules and fine chips of abrasive materials. Injection, ultrasonic, and vibratory machines are used to rid parts of burrs, scale, and deposits; tumbling and vibration-polishing machines are used to grind, polish, and harden molded internal and external surfaces. Liquid-abrasive machining improves only the surface quality, reducing microscopic roughness, rather than improving the precision of machining. The method is most effectively used in finishing molded surfaces. [9–-580–2]