March 2011 > APS Case Study

Just how flexible is MRF?  Ask us....

Our engineers are commonly asked 2 questions, "Will MRF work for this application?"  and the corollary question, "Can MRF polish this material?"
Most often, the answer is yes.  MRF is very effective on materials ranging from optical glasses to IR and mold materials.  As long as we have sufficiently accurate metrology, MRF will meet the surface figure error specification.  The only remaining question is, will MRF also achieve the desired surface roughness?
MRF routinely polishes surfaces to less than 10Å rms surface micro-roughness on most optical glasses and single-crystal materials.  MRF can also produce excellent results on several polycrystalline materials. Ultimately, the final achievable roughness of these types of materials scales with the grain size.  And the answer to the question is often determined by the specification driven by the end us of the application.
The list below provides a rough guideline of material performance.  In general the best advice is “try it!” Do you have questions about whether or not MRF is suitable for your specific application? Contact QED's Applications Lab to find out how MRF can work for you. QED’s Applications Lab can also help evaluate new materials with a full range of MR fluids and roughness diagnostics.
For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Our engineers are commonly asked 2 questions, "Will MRF work for this application?"  and the corollary question, "Can MRF polish this material?" Most often, the answer is yes.  

MRF is very effective on materials ranging from optical glasses to IR and mold materials.  As long as we have sufficiently accurate metrology, MRF will meet the surface figure error specification.  The only remaining question is, will MRF also achieve the desired surface roughness?

MRF routinely polishes surfaces to less than 10Å rms surface micro-roughness on most optical glasses and single-crystal materials.  MRF can also produce excellent results on several polycrystalline materials. Ultimately, the final achievable roughness of these types of materials scales with the grain size.  And the answer to the question is often determined by the specification driven by the end use of the application.

The chart below provides a rough guideline of material performance.  Do you have questions about whether or not MRF is suitable for your specific application? In general, the best advice is “try it!”   QED’s Applications Lab can also help evaluate new materials with a full range of MR fluids and roughness diagnostics.  Contact QED's Applications engineers to find out how MRF can work for you.


MRF-surface-roughness-chart_600

For more information contact: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.