Iranian Researcher Produces Magnetic Polishing Machine

Zare Pourfirouzabadi, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Islamic Azad University (IAU), Najafabad Branch (IAUN), is an inventor who designed and built a magnetic polishing machine for curved workpieces surfaces. He was awarded for his invention at the 10th Scientific, Research and Technology Festival of Scholars of Islamic Azad University, Farhikhtegan (Scholars) in short, that was held in December 2023 in the IAU central organization.​ He sat down for an interview with ANA correspondent on the sidelines of the event to explain about his patent.

“With the progress of various materials such as semiconductors, optical materials, materials used in various industries such as aerospace, automotive and medical engineering and also the increasing need to produce workpieces with complicated shapes and surfaces, ultra-precise polishing processes to produce shapes that have complex geometry at a high-level quality are highly required,” the senior researcher said.

According to the internationally known researcher, MAF is the non – conventional finishing process in which workpiece is kept between the two poles (North & South) of magnet, to achieve the high surface finishing. This is being controlled by the magnetic field either induced by the help of permanent magnet or electro-magnet.

“One of the problems in the magnetic polishing process is the lack of ability to change the intensity of the magnetic field during the process. For that, the entire surface of the workpiece is polished with a constant force, while in case of changing the shape of the workpiece surfaces and creating a polishing gap, there is a need to change the intensity of the magnetic field accordingly,” Pourfirouzabadi continued to explain.

“In this invention, by changing the voltage value and as a result of changing the intensity of the current entered into the coil, a variable magnetic field corresponding to the polishing gap is created. As a result, a magnetic abrasive brush with the capability to change the magnetic field is created. Subsequently, the force of the abrasive particles changes during the process according to the form of the workpiece and the gap created between the magnetic brush and the surface of the piece, which increases the quality and accuracy of polishing operation of curved workpieces surfaces,” he added.

“In the machine that has been patented, with the rapid formation of abrasive particles in the direction of the magnetic field lines, abrasive brushes are created, which changes the adhesiveness of the abrasive particles during the polishing process with the change of the magnetic field,” the researcher also said.

Abrasive particles are composed of iron oxide powder and particles such as SiC and Al2O3, he further said, adding, “By applying the magnetic force from the field core to the abrasive particles, these particles will form the magnetic field lines. This formation makes the particles act like a flexible and controllable brush and polish the surface of curved parts with very high quality.”

“This invention can be utilized and employed in nano-finishing processes of surfaces of curved workpieces in various industries,” the IAU researcher went on to say.

“This patent is the fourth granted patent owned by IAU, which was initially registered in June 2018 at the United States Patent and Trademark Office(USPTO) and was published in September 2019. After going through the USPTO proceedings in September 2022, finally it received a final grant and a patent number,” Pourfirouzabadi concluded.

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