Abrasive Water Jet

Machining
State-of-the Art Applications of
the Water-Jet Technique
Generally, water jets are used for:
1. industrial cleaning
2. surface preparation
3. paint, enamel and coating
stripping
4. concrete hydrodemolition
5. Rock fragmentation
6. Solid stabilization
7. Decontamination
8. Demolition
9. Metal recycling
10. Manufacturing operations

In the area of manufacturing, the water
jet-technique is used for:

1. material cutting by plain water jets
(e.g., plastics, thin metal sheets,
textiles foam, etc.)
2. deburring by plain water jets
3. surface peening by plain water jets
4. conventional machining with water-jet
assistance

5. cutting of difficult-to-machine
materials by abrasive water jets
6. milling and 3-D-shaping by abrasive
water jets
7. turning by abrasive water jets
8. piercing and drilling by abrasive water
jets
9. Polishing by abrasive water jets
Cutting Application of High-Pressure
Water Jets
General Classification of
Abrasive Materials
A large number of different types of
abrasive materials are used in the abrasive
water-jet technique.
A survey in 1995 [26] shows that most of
the abrasive water shops use
i. Garner (90%)
ii. Olivine (15 %)
iii. Slag (15 %)
iv. Aluminum-oxide (11 %), and
v. Silica-sand (11 %).
Classification of Abrasive
Materials
Silicon Carbide Abrasive

Aluminum Oxide abrasive
Pink Aluminum oxide

Grey Aluminum oxide

The evaluation of an abrasive material for
abrasive water-jet process includes the
following parameters:
1. Material structure
2. Material hardness
3. Mechanical behavior
4. Grain shape
5. Grain-size distribution
6. Average grain size
Elongation Ratio and Flatness
Ratio for Shape Characterization

The Elongation
Ratio is given by:


The Flatness Ratio
is given by:


Geometric form of Particles
Sphericity (by Wadell)

Roundness (by Wadell)




Circularity factor (by Cox)

Shape factor (by Cox)

Typical Shapes of Garnet
Abrasives
Abrasive Water Jet Machine
High speed waterjet
Structure of High-Speed Water
Jets
In the axial direction, the jet
divides into three zones:

1. A cone zone
2. A transition zone
3. A final zone

In the conical shaped core zone, the flow
properties are constant along the jet axis.
Usually, the length of this axis zone relates
to the orifice diameter,
x
c

---- = A
d
o

A depends on orifice geometry and quality.
Based on the high speed motion
picture inspection, Whiting developed
an empirical relationship between
pump pressure and the length of the
water-jet core zone:

x = -3.545.10
-11
.p + 2.535.10
-2

The length of the transition zone relates
to the orifice diameter,
x
T

----------- = B
d
o

Where B is constant.
x
T
5.33. x
c
Requirements of an abrasive water jet:

1. Optimum abrasive particle acceleration
2. High energy density of the generated jet
3. Low wear of the parts, specially of the
focus
4. Reliability
5. Simple
Mechanisms of Material Removal
by Solid Particle Erosion
Erosion of Ductile
Behaving Materials
1. Micro-Cutting Model
Finnie analyzed the
process assuming a
plastic response
character of the
material determined
by its flow stress.

2. Extended Cutting-Deformation Model

Bitter divides the entire material removal
process into two models called
a) Cutting wear that happens at low-
impact angles and
b) Deformation wear that occurs at
high-impact angles.
3. 'Ploughing-
Deformation'-Model
Based on high-speed
photographs and SEM-
observations, Hutchings
defines two modes of
material-removal due to:
a) micro-cutting, such as
cutting-deformation
and
b) ploughing-deformation
The ploughing-deformation mode
dominates the material removal by
spherical particles; whereas,

Cutting-deformation is significant
for sharp-edged, angular particles.

Erosion Brittle behaving Materials
1. Elastic Model
Sheldon and Finnie proposes a purely elastic
model and assume that erosion occurs
entirely by crack propagation and chipping
as a result of contact stresses during
impact.
These stresses cause cracks to growth from
pre-existing cracks in the material surface.
2. Elastic-Plastic Models
Wiederhorn and Lawn calculate the
volume loss from the depth of particle
penetration and maximum size of the
lateral cracks that forms during impact.
They assume that the depth of the lateral
cracks is proportional to the radial-
crack size.
3. Grain-Ejection Model
Ritter notices on polycrystalline alumina
ceramics a material removal by
individual grain ejection from the
surface.
This process is modeled by arguing that
a fraction of the solid-particle kinetic
energy is used in grain-boundary
cracking.
Process Parameters
Generally, the process parameters in the
abrasive water-jet cutting divide as
follows:

1 - hydraulic parameters:
2 - cutting parameters:
3 - mixing-and-acceleration parameters;
4 - abrasive parameters:
Hydraulic parameters:

pump pressure (p)
water-orifice diameter (d
o
)
Cutting parameters:

traverse rate (v)
number of passes (n
p
)
standoff distance (x)
impact angle ()
Mixing-and-acceleration parameters:

focus diameter (d
F
)
focus length (l
F
)
Abrasive parameters:
abrasive-mass flow rate (m
A
)
abrasive-particle diameter (d
p
)
abrasive-particle size distribution (f(d
p
))
abrasive-particle shape,
abrasive-particle hardness (H
p
)
abrasive-recycling capacity

INFLUENCE OF
HYDRAULIC PROCESS
PARAMETERS
Influence of Pump Pressure
Ductile-behaving material

Parameter Influence on
Threshold Pressure
Parameter Influence on the Progress
Parameter dh/dp
Relation between Pump Pressure
and Specific Energy
Relation between the Orifice
Diameter and the Cutting Results

INFLUENCE OF
CUTTING
PARAMETERS
Relation between Traverse rate
and Depth of Cut
Relation between Exposure Time
and Depth of Cut
Relation Between Standoff Distance
and Depth of Cut
Relation Between Jet Impact Angle
and Depth of Cut

INFLUENCE OF
ABRASIVE
PARAMETERS
Relation Between Abrasive Particle
Diameter and Depth of Cut
Influence of Abrasive Material
Hardness on the Machining Results
Geometry, Topography
and Integrity of
Abrasive Water-Jet
Machined Parts
Geometry of Water Jet cut Slot





b
T

Taper of cut: T
R
= -------
b
B

Oweinah and Kitamura gives an alternative
definition:

b
T
- b
B

T
R
= -----------
2

Chung defines:
b
T
- b
B

T
R
= arctan (---------------)
16
Taper is divergent if b
T
< b
B

Taper is convergent if b
T
> b
B



The flank angle is:

b
T
b
0.4.h


F
= arctan {-----------------------}
2.(0.4.h 0.5)
Taper
V-shaped
V-shaped taper is where the
top of the cut is wider than
the bottom.
This is a result of the jet
spending enough time over
an area to erode the top of
the material more than the
bottom.
Also, "splash back" as the
jet is bounced back from the
material will tend to erode the
sides. This is the most
common type of taper.
Reverse Taper
Reverse taper is where the
top is narrower than the
bottom.
This tends to happen in soft
materials where the material
is rapidly eroded or when
cutting very slowly.
Because the jet stream
expands the farther away
from the nozzle it gets, it
removes more material from
the bottom than from the
top.
Barrel Taper
Barrel taper is
where the
middle is wider
than the top or
the bottom.
Barrel taper
tends to occur in
very thick
materials.
Rhomboid or
Trapezoidal Taper
Rhomboid taper
is actually normal
V-shaped taper
that has been
tilted because the
nozzle isn't at
right-angles to
the material
Jet Lag
Because the cutting tool is
basically a beam of water, it acts
like a "floppy tool".
The jet lags between where it first
enters the material and where it
exits.
Bottom of jet lags behind cutting
head.
Jet Lag
Influence of Pump Pressure on Top
Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Traverse Rate on Top
Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Standoff Distance on
Top Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Focus Diameter on Top
Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Focus Length on
Top Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Abrasive Mass Flow Rate on
Top Width of Cut (Ductile Material)
Influence of Traverse Rate on Top
Width of Cut (Brittle Material) I
Influence of Standoff Distance on
Top Width of Cut (Brittle Material)
Relation Between the Traverse Rate, Specimen
Thickness and Cut Taper of Steel
Water-jet Milling using Mask
The system contains two axes of
motions:
1. Cross feed (linear traverse) of the jet
2. Specimen rotation
The cross-feed motion of the abrasive
water-jet tool is used to control the
amount of overlap of the abrasive water
jet form on revolution of the drum to
the next.
The material samples are placed in the
drum and covered with a mask.
Workpiece generated by
abrasive water jet milling
Abrasive Water Jet Turning
Piercing with Abrasive Water Jets
The generation of holes in a material by an
abrasive water jet is realized by three
methods:
i) piercing,
ii) drilling and
iii) trepanning.

In piercing, neither the jet nor the specimen
perform rotational movements. The jet just
penetrates the material in its axial direction
until it leaves the workpiece.
Piercing Process and Hole Geometry
This piercing process distinguishes into three
phases:

1. water jet impact
2. abrasive water jet penetration
3. abrasive water jet dwelling

Therefore, for the piercing time,

The penetration phase that is
characterized by an almost
perpendicular abrasive impact angle
at the hole bottom and by rebound flow
determines the efficiency of the
process (e.g., penetration rate, drilling
time)

The dwelling phase, where the abrasive
particles impact the hole wall at
shallow angles is responsible for the
hole geometry.
Holes pierced into engineering
materials
Quality aspects of piercing by
abrasive water jet
Deep-hole drilling
Drilling rate for a rotating AWJ device
Concepts for AWJ polishing
Screw thread machining with AWJ
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