Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Carbon Epoxy Composite

An experimental study of abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite is presented. Process parameters namely hydraulic pressure, traverse rate, stand-off distance and abrasive mass flow rate are considered for this study. Taguchi approach and analysis of variance are used to study the influence of process parameters on response characteristics including surface roughness and kerf taper. It is found that hydraulic pressure and traverse rate are most significant parameters to control surface roughness and kerf taper. Microscopic features of the machined surfaces are evaluated using scanning electron microscope and compared with sample surfaces machined by conventional method using diamond edge cutter.A set of process parameters is optimised to achieve minimum surface roughness and kerf taper. Confirmation tests are performed to verify the optimum set of process parameters. Defects like delamination, fibre pull out and abrasive embedment are also studied using scanning electron microscope

Multi-performance optimization of abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite material

406-416Carbon epoxy composite material is widely used in naval, aerospace, transportation, structural applications. Traditional machining of carbon epoxy composite is difficult due to improper surface features and kerf geometry, delamination, high tool wear, etc. In the present paper, research work involved in multi-performance optimization of abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) of carbon epoxy composite is described. Taguchi approach and analysis of variance are used to experimentally investigate the influence of process parameters on surface roughness and kerf taper. Four AWJM process parameters namely hydraulic pressure, traverse rate, stand-off distance and abrasive mass flow rate are considered for this study. It is found that two parameters, hydraulic pressure and traverse rate are most significant to control surface roughness and kerf taper. Analysis of scanning electron microscope images of machined surface of work-piece has been carried out to evaluate its microscopic features. The process is optimized for minimum surface roughness and kerf taper using Taguchi based grey relation analysis approach. Confirmation tests are carried out to verify improvement in the response characteristics using optimum set of AWJM process parameters

Abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite: Cutting performance, predictive models and optimization

265-275Carbon epoxy composite material has wide applications in naval and aerospace sectors. This paper describes an experimental study of abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite material. Cutting performance in terms of surface morphology, kerf formation and kerf wall features of machined samples have been studied to infer the basic mechanism of machining. Four process parameters namely hydraulic pressure, traverse rate, stand-off distance and abrasive mass flow rate have been considered. Design of experiments has been performed using response surface methodology and then based on experimental analysis predictive models have been developed to estimate surface roughness and kerf taper. It has been observed that jet pressure and traverse rate are the most significant parameters followed by abrasive mass flow rate and stand-off distance along with some quadratic and interaction terms to control kerf properties. Model predictions have been found in congruence with experimental values. Also, confirmation tests verify the experimental analysis. Further, a multi-response optimization has been performed on the basis of desirability function to improve kerf properties