Digitalization of mass vibratory polishing process for aerospace application

Abstract

In the aerospace industry, vibratory polishing is generously used for surface modification processes. This process is specially utilized as it can attain low surface roughness values to improve fulfilment and efficiency of components.

Vibratory polishing also known as vibropolishing, is a relatively new manufacturing process. It still lacks a competent process monitoring and control system to integrate into the shop floor. The primary objective of this project is to deploy sensors in vibratory polishing to monitor real time process conditions. The secondary objective is to analyze the data and correlate the results to the polishing process and establish process control limits.

The project involves identifying suitable sensors to monitor the polishing machines and process, also to develop fixtures to incorporate the sensors in the machine at appropriate locations. This can help to monitor the polishing process through sensor data collection and signal analysis, which in turns identify the process control limits and demonstrates full digitalization of the vibratory polishing process.

The preliminary phase of this project is to create a deeper understanding of the process of vibratory finishing and identifying the critical process parameters. The first objective is to develop a digitalization program in LabVIEW which will work hand in hand with various sensors that were deployed across the trough to gather raw data. The trough vibration dynamics and characteristics can therefore be analyzed and understood from the data collected.

The subsequent phase of this project is to analyze the data acquired from the accelerometers at different positions and it has found that the workpiece when placed at the most bottom of a trough will experience the highest vertical displacement. Moving forward, the force sensor data investigated the desirable positions in the trough that produced the maximum shear force were Positions (1, 1, 2) and (2, 1, 3) with validation from the mass loss and surface roughness values after vibratory polishing.

In conclusion, this project serves to continue the advancements of a real-time vibratory finishing monitoring system and establish its control limits. It is necessary to execute more experiments to comprehend the trough dynamics and relativity between the input and output parameters of the process.