Search Results (10)

The abrasive waterjet machining process was introduced in the 1980s as a new cutting tool; the process has the ability to cut almost any material. Currently, the AWJ process is used in many world-class factories, producing parts for use in daily life. A description of this process and its influencing parameters are first presented in this paper, along with process models for the AWJ tool itself and also for the jet–material interaction. The AWJ material removal process occurs through the high-velocity impact of abrasive particles, whose tips micromachine the material at the microscopic scale, with no thermal or mechanical adverse effects. The macro-characteristics of the cut surface, such as its taper, trailback, and waviness, are discussed, along with methods of improving the geometrical accuracy of the cut parts using these attributes. For example, dynamic angular compensation is used to correct for the taper and undercut in shape cutting. The surface finish is controlled by the cutting speed, hydraulic, and abrasive parameters using software and process models built into the controllers of CNC machines. In addition to shape cutting, edge trimming is presented, with a focus on the carbon fiber composites used in aircraft and automotive structures, where special AWJ tools and manipulators are used. Examples of the precision cutting of microelectronic and solar cell parts are discussed to describe the special techniques that are used, such as machine vision and vacuum-assist, which have been found to be essential to the integrity and accuracy of cut parts. The use of the AWJ machining process was extended to other applications, such as drilling, boring, milling, turning, and surface modification, which are presented in this paper as actual industrial applications. To demonstrate the versatility of the AWJ machining process, the data in this paper were selected to cover a wide range of materials, such as metal, glass, composites, and ceramics, and also a wide range of thicknesses, from 1 mm to 600 mm. The trends of Industry 4.0 and 5.0, AI, and IoT are also presented. Full article

Improvement of the surface quality of machined parts is essential in order to avoid excessive and costly post-processing. Although non-conventional processes can efficiently carry out the machining of difficult-to-cut materials with high productivity, they may also, for various reasons, be related to increased surface roughness. In order to optimize the surface quality of generated surfaces in a reliable way, surface profiles obtained during these processes must be adequately modeled. However, given that most studies have focused on Ra or Rz indicators or are based on the assumption of a normal distribution for the profile heights, relevant models cannot accurately represent the surface characteristics that exist in a real machined surface with a high degree of accuracy. Thus, in the present study, a new modeling approach based on the use of a statistical probability distribution for the surface profile height is proposed. After six different distributions were evaluated on the basis of a three-stage procedure involving different roughness indicators pertaining to the abrasive waterjet (AWJ) milling of pockets, it was found that, although it is not possible to model the nominal values of every roughness parameter simultaneously, in several cases, it is possible to approximate the values of critical indicators such as Ra, Rz, Rsk, Rku and Rp/Rv ratio by Weibull distribution with a sufficient degree of accuracy. Full article

Non-conventional processes are considerably important for the machining of hard-to-cut alloys in various demanding applications. Given that the surface quality and integrity, dimensional accuracy, and productivity are important considerations in industrial practice, the prediction of the outcome of the material removal process should be able to be conducted with sufficient accuracy, taking into consideration the computational cost and difficulty of implementation of the relevant models. In the case of AWJ, various types of approaches have been already proposed, both relying on analytical or empirical models and developed by solving partial differential equations. As the creation of a model for AWJ pocket milling is rather demanding, given the number of parameters involved, in the present work, it is intended to compare the use of three different types of efficient modeling approaches for the prediction of the dimensions of pockets milled by AWJ technology. The models are developed and evaluated based on experimental results of AWJ pocket milling of a titanium workpiece by an eco-friendly walnut shell abrasive. The results indicate that a semi-empirical approach performs better than a two-step hybrid analytical/semi-empirical method regarding the selected cases, but both methods show promising results regarding the realistic representation of the pocket shape, which can be further improved by a probabilistic approach. Full article

Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining offers the possibility of creating a wide range of features on mechanical parts with different degrees of complexity with a relatively high efficiency. However, after the roughing passes, the surface quality of features such as blind pockets is rather low, with unfavorable implications for surface waviness and form deviations apart from high surface roughness. Apart from the traditional methods for finishing, such as grinding or lapping, it is worth attempting either to improve the surface quality obtained during roughing by an AWJ or to integrate a post-processing step by using a pure WJ in the existing process in order to ameliorate the surface quality. Thus, in the current study, the effect of pure waterjet (WJ) post-processing of machined pockets by AWJ milling on a Ti-6Al-4V workpiece using recycled glass beads was investigated under different conditions. The findings indicate that although the different post-processing treatments by a pure WJ can affect the surface quality on average, these differences are not considerably important, probably due to an insufficient capability of material removal, which hinders the smoothing effect on machined surfaces. Thus, it was indicated that a higher number of post-processing passes under different conditions than those of the roughing pass can be more favorable for efficient post-treatment by a pure WJ. Full article

Non-conventional machining processes offer significant advantages over conventional ones, especially in terms of the productivity, cost, and surface integrity of the produced parts due to their higher flexibility. Abrasive waterjet machining, in particular, constitutes an ecologically friendly process with a negligible thermal impact on a workpiece, and it has considerable capabilities for obtaining the desired outcome by regulating some of its numerous parameters. Among these parameters, the abrasive type is particularly important due to its hardness, mesh size, and shape, which lead to considerable deviations on the obtained depth, kerf characteristics, and productivity. Thus, in this work, a comprehensive comparison is conducted on the use of garnet and silicon carbide particles for the slot milling of the Ti-6Al-4V alloy under different conditions. The capabilities of both abrasive materials are evaluated by statistical analysis regarding the depth of penetration, kerf width, kerf taper angle, and material removal rate (MRR), which are obtained under the same process conditions. Finally, a multi-objective optimization based on grey relational analysis (GRA) is performed for several different practical cases. It was found that, although silicon carbide is more efficient in optimizing individual process outputs, the use of a garnet abrasive can lead to considerably better trade-offs between two or more objectives of the machining process. Full article

Abrasive waterjet technology is nowadays a well established non-conventional method with significant capabilities for material removal with high productivity and minimum environmental impact compared to other processes. However, in order to be in line with the green transition directives, further steps are required to ensure the sustainability of manufacturing processes and reduce the risk of material depletion by employing recyclable materials. For this purpose, an eco-friendly abrasive material such as walnut shell is employed for pocket machining of a titanium alloy workpiece. Due to the relatively low hardness of this material, compared to common abrasive materials such as garnet or alumina, it is required to determine the appropriate range of process parameters in order to obtain high-quality pockets with high productivity. Thus, in this work, a comprehensive experimental study is conducted in order to determine the effect of various process parameters on pocket depth, pocket width, material removal rate, flatness and parallelism error of produced pockets. The results prove the feasibility of using walnut shell as abrasive material for pocket milling, although MRR is almost an order of magnitude lower than the values commonly obtained for usual abrasives. Moreover, it is not recommended to use jet pressure values over 250 MPa so dimensional accuracy, flatness and parallelism error are maintained in acceptable values. Full article

Non-conventional machining processes offer various advantages, including the capability of processing hard-to-cut materials with a reasonable cost and sufficient productivity. However, depending on the application, different machining strategies need to be employed, in order to increase the flexibility of the process and produce parts with a better quality. In this study, experimental work was conducted and the use of a multipass strategy during slot milling of titanium alloy with abrasive water jet milling (AWJM) was explored, by comparing the effect of different numbers of passes under different process conditions, such as the jet pressure and traverse feed rate. The performance was evaluated by means of the kerf characteristics, and the productivity through material removal rate (MRR) values. The results indicated that the use of a multipass strategy had a considerable impact on the kerf taper angle, apart from the depth of penetration; and although it leads to reduced MRR and cutting efficiency, choosing appropriate values of process parameters, such as a higher jet pressure and moderate traverse feed, in combination with a moderate amount of passes, can be beneficial for AWJM from different points of view. Full article

Sintered zinc oxide (ZnO) ceramic is a fragile and difficult-to-cut material, so finishing operations demand handling cautious and accurate surface tolerances by polishing, grinding, or machining. The conventional machining methods based on grinding and lapping offer limited productivity and high scalability; therefore, their incapacity to prepare tight tolerances usually end up with uncontrolled edge chipping and rough surfaces in the final products. This study investigates microstructural features with surface roughness in a comparative mode for conventional milling and abrasive waterjet cutting (AWJ). Edge topography and roughness maps are presented in this study to weigh the benefits of AWJ cutting over the conventional material removal methods by altering the feed rates. The porosity analysis implies that the differences during the multi-channel processing of varistors, which tend to alter the microstructure, should in turn exhibit a different response during cutting. The surface roughness, edge contours, and porosity generation due to shear forces are interpreted with the help of 3D optical and electron microscopy. The results demonstrate that the surface microstructure can have a noteworthy impact on the machining/cutting characteristics and functionality, and in addition, mechanical properties of ZnO varistors can fluctuate with non-uniform microstructures. Full article

Measurements enabling the online monitoring of the abrasive waterjet (AWJ) cutting process are still under development. This paper presents an experimental method which can be applicable for the evaluation of the AWJ cutting quality through the measurement of forces during the cutting process. The force measuring device developed and patented by our team has been used for measurement on several metal materials. The results show the dependence of the cutting to deformation force ratio on the relative traverse speed. Thus, the force data may help with a better understanding the interaction between the abrasive jet and the material, simultaneously impacting the improvement of both the theoretical and empirical models. The advanced models could substantially improve the selection of suitable parameters for AWJ cutting, milling or turning with the desired quality of product at the end of the process. Nevertheless, it is also presented that force measurements may detect some undesired effects, e.g., not fully penetrated material and/or some product distortions. In the case of a proper designing of the measuring device, the force measurement can be applied in the online monitoring of the cutting process and its continuous control. Full article

Several series of experiments were conducted to compare the performance of selected sets of subtractive and additive machine tools for meso-micro machining. Under the MicroCutting Project, meso-micro machining of a reference part was conducted to compare the performance of several machine tools. A prototype flexure of the microspline of an asteroid gripper under development at NASA/JPL was selected as the reference part for the project. Several academic, research institutes, and industrial firms were among the collaborators participating in the project. Both subtractive and additive machine tools were used, including abrasive waterjets, CNC milling, lasers, 3D printing, and laser powder bed fusion. Materials included aluminum, stainless steel, and nonmetal resins. Each collaborator produced the reference part in its facility using materials most suitable for their tools. The finished parts were inspected qualitatively and quantitatively at OMAX Corporation. The performance of the participating machine tools was then compared based on the results of the inspection. Test results show that the two top performers for this test part are the CNC precision milling and micro abrasive waterjet. For machining a single flexure, the CNC precision milling had a slight edge over the micro abrasive waterjet machining in terms of part accuracy and edge quality. The advantages disappear or the trend even reverses when stack machining with taper compensation is adopted for the micro abrasive waterjet. Full article