Design and Fabrication of Micro Texturing Machine
A lot of researches and work has been done on materials to increase the surface features because they affect the life of the components. Efforts were made to decrease surface roughness and enhance wear resistance properties of the material. Later, many techniques were developed for the enhance
2025-06-28 16:31:37 - Adil Khan
Design and Fabrication of Micro Texturing Machine
Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject SummaryA lot of researches and work has been done on materials to increase the surface features because they affect the life of the components. Efforts were made to decrease surface roughness and enhance wear resistance properties of the material. Later, many techniques were developed for the enhancement of texturing process. Vibrorolling method, surface texturing with chemical abrasion, and use of the laser ablation are were the results of the researches made at that time. These techniques at that time either have high cost or they were less precise.
Now a day’s many modern techniques are developed which are time efficient and very precise. The process of surface finishing is done to decrease the fuel consumption and to increase the life time of the material by controlling the friction and wear. These surface textures improve the performance tribologically by providing reservoir for the lubricant and provide storage for the debris produced due to frictional and wear effects. Several techniques are used depending upon the need, flexibility, and functionality of the component and on the speed of fabrication. Some of the modern process used for micro texturing are electric discharge texturing and focused ion beams texturing and many more. Each technique has its own benefits and draw backs as well.
In this project firstly, a machine is designed and then fabricated. In designing process, the circular and flat surfaces are taken into considerations, so it can do texturing in multiple axis. Also, machine is designed accordingly as it must bear the impact of the force created by indentation on any circular or flat body. After completion of designing process, fabrication process is done. Indentation mechanism is used in this machine. Any type of indenter (diamond shape, round shape etc.) can be used as per requirement to produce require shape of texture on the specimen.
The main purpose of fabrication of this machine is, first in this field there is very limited amount of work is done in past, secondly techniques which are currently in use are either expansive or they have any adverse effect on environmental. Machine which is fabricated here is very cheap in cost and provide quality texturing in very less price. It is also environment friendly as no harmful chemicals or rays are emitted while using it for texturing purpose, so it is safe for environment as well as for the user. Also, this machine can provide opportunities for incoming personnel to do further research in this new and versatile field of doing texturing as this method is new and yet to be implemented in mass production field.
Project ObjectivesThere are two main objective
- Design of micro texturing machine
- Fabrication of micro texturing machine
- Design of micro texturing machine:
- Texturing at internal surface of circular body.
- Texturing at the external surface of the circular body.
- Texturing at the flat surface or flat plate.
- Fabrication of micro texturing machine:
- Equidistant pattern of texture.
- Linear mechanism will be used for transferring force by linear actuator and lever arm system.
- Tool must have an easy approach to specimen being textured.
- User friendly operable procedure.
- Principle Method
Major work is to design and fabricate a machine which is precise, inexpensive, low running cost and environment friendly conditions. Indentation method was found as best for producing dimples after experimenting on material hardness testers, it was found that dimples are clean, well-controlled according to applied force
- 3D design and Analysis
3D design of prototype modeled in Solidworks and then we did analysis of indentation by using Ansys Workbench (static structural module).
- Chuck
bearing and cylindrical parts which are used in mechanical machines varies in their sizes according to type and need of machine, we selected a 5-inch universal chuck to hold varying sizes of cylindrical part for example bearing, crank shaft, cam shaft etc.
- Indenter
To make dimples on soft to hard materials we needed an extremely hard indenter. Diamond tip tools or carbide tip tools are used for hard material machining therefore we selected diamond tip indenter to work under extreme conditions.
- Actuator
Hard material like Bearing steel needs 150 kg for its hardness testing on Vickers hardness tester. We made a tolerance of 50kg for even hard materials and selected 200kgf force linear actuator.
- Stepper motors
NIMA 23 stepper motors are used to carry high load and to bear high bending moment sliding rail are used which can easily bear effect of 200kgf action.
- Liver arm system
This mechanical system is used to transfer actuator motion to indenter. We selected this mechanism due its simplicity and mechanical efficiency.
- Beds
Two beds are installed for the motion of indenter and second for the motion of flat surface parts
- Materials
Hardened steel and aluminum alloys are used in this machine, hardened steel for the require strength and aluminum alloy for parts whose machinability was not an easy task.
- Electronic control
On board keypad system is installed for easy operation. System works on Arduino system to control its features. By using micro stepping of stepper motors which is 3200 steps in revolution, we achieved maximum accuracy of machine.
- Machining and Assembling
Frame and stand of machine fabricated then all part assembled. After finishing mechanical work, we installed electrical circuits and wiring.
Benefits of the ProjectThe major benefits we can get by micro texturing is to overcome such effects which are caused by the friction and increase the life time of such parts which include frictional effects in it. As machine continuously rotates under concentration of heavy load with the passage of time contacting parts produces debris which will further increase the rate of friction although the lubrication is present. Micro texting will provide small vacant spaces for debris to get stored as well as within small cavities lubricant will also be stored which will further decrease the contact area between the parts and continuously produce a uniform film of lubrication between the frictional parts moreover static load on bearing also decrease its life but by this way it will provide thin film of lubrication between the contacting parts and minimize static load to which damage the contacted surfaces. Some of the examples are the crank bearing which must bear the continues high RPM motion their life can be increased as well as other frictional parts in auto mobiles, locomotives, power generating turbines etc. By decreasing the frictional force and increasing the life of the object will not benefit the country only but the entire world too. Micro texturing by mechanical mean is one of the cheapest and environment friendly technique as other technique have influences with environment and price.
Technical Details of Final DeliverableMachine’s overall dimension is 45*14*37 (L*W*H) and its weight is about 120kg. Machine can produce dimples on flat surface and internal external surface of symmetric cylindric parts. Working area for flat surface is 6*6-inch, 3 inches to 9 inches diameter for internal texturing and 0.5 inches to 10 inches diameter for external texturing. Machine works on 24 volts 9 ampere DC power input. Machine can achieve density about 1 to 512000 maximum dimples per cm square of area for flat surfaces, when machine works for cylindrical parts its each circular step can achieved 0.028169 degree minimum. Machine takes around 2 seconds to produce a single dimple. Various magnitude of dimple diameter and depth can be achieved by varying magnitude of applied force by actuator. 1-200 kgf force can be delivered by actuator. 800kg load cell is used to sense applied force and limit force. Various type of indenters can be used in this machine to produce different shapes of dimples.
Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemType of Industry Manufacturing Technologies Robotics, Others, Clean TechSustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, Responsible Consumption and ProductionRequired Resources| Item Name | Type | No. of Units | Per Unit Cost (in Rs) | Total (in Rs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total in (Rs) | 77426 | |||
| Actuator | Equipment | 1 | 9582 | 9582 |
| Indenter | Equipment | 2 | 3312 | 6624 |
| linear rails | Equipment | 2 | 8600 | 17200 |
| motors | Equipment | 3 | 2550 | 7650 |
| Electrnonics | Equipment | 1 | 7700 | 7700 |
| chuck | Equipment | 1 | 5650 | 5650 |
| material | Equipment | 1 | 9560 | 9560 |
| Report printing | Miscellaneous | 8 | 600 | 4800 |
| paint | Equipment | 1 | 3000 | 3000 |
| nut bolts | Equipment | 8 | 270 | 2160 |
| testing material | Miscellaneous | 5 | 700 | 3500 |