Experimental investigation of abrasive jet polishing on the free-form machined surfaces of SKD61 mold steel using SiC particles

This study performs an experimental investigation into the wet abrasive jet polishing (AJP) of three different SKD61 specimens, namely, a linear microgroove, a linear microchannel, and a curved microchannel. It is shown that when the polishing process is performed using #3000SiC particles, the surface roughness (Rmax) of the SKD61 microgroove is reduced from 2.32m to 0.40m within 30min. Furthermore, when using #1000SiC particles and a vacuum suction pressure of 60cmHg (0.82kg/cm2), the surface roughness of the linear microchannel is reduced from 3.45m to 0.43m within 60min, while that of the curved microchannel is reduced from 3.58m to 0.45m. Overall, the experimental results show that the wet AJP method provides a quick and efficient means of removing the milling traces from SKD61 mold steel components to leave a mirror-like polished surface.