Journal of Materials Processing Technology 74 (1998) 251 254

Optimising abrasive waterjet cutting of ceramic materials

L. Chen a, E. Siores a, W.C.K. Wong b,*
b a School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Swinburne Uni6ersity of Technology, Swinburne, Australia School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Queensland Uni6ersity of Technology, GPO Box 2434, Brisbane, Qld. 4001, Australia

Received 1 June 1996

Abstract Compared with traditional mechanical cutting methods and most non-traditional machining technologies, abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting technology is acquiring increasingly extensive applications for the shape cutting of difcult-to-machine materials such as ceramics. However, many aspects of this technology are still not well understood. Further, its low cutting speed needs to be increased without compromising the quality of the surface nish. In this paper, experimental techniques based on statistical design principles were conducted to study AWJ cutting of ceramics. The research work, involving multi-directional cutting, was conducted to examine the effect of jet impact angles on cutting quality. Furthermore, new cutting head oscillation techniques were applied of the AWJ cutting process for better cutting. 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A.
Keywords: Abrasive waterjet cutting; Optimising; Ceramics

1. Introduction Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) cutting is a unique, cold cutting process. The process uses a ne-bore nozzle to form a coherent, high velocity jet, which has a pressure up to 400 MPa and a velocity of up to 1000 m s 1. AWJ cutting of the workpiece results from failure and micromachining. Compared with traditional and most non-traditional machining technologies, AWJ cutting technology offers the following advantages: no thermal distortion, high exibility, high machining versatility and small machining force. Therefore, this technology exhibits a high potential in the eld of the shape machining of hard or brittle materials such as ceramic, glass, etc. AWJ capabilities regarding process efciency and effectiveness are being investigated through theory, understanding using experimentation and process modelling techniques [1 8], but many aspects of AWJ technology are still under ux and development. Its low cutting speed needs to be increased without compromising the quality of the surface nish: for this, appropriate AWJ cutting procedures are needed for maximising process efciency and effectiveness.
* Corresponding author. Fax: +61 7 38641529.

In this study, work was undertaken to investigate geometry characteristics, especially of the uncut-through kerf of ceramics. The experimental study involving multi-directional cutting and the application of cutting head oscillation techniques in the AWJ cutting process was conducted for enhancing AWJ cutting quality.

2. Experimental procedure The abrasive waterjet cutting system used in the experiments is a waterjet cutter facility integrated with a ve-axis robot manipulator. In this study, 87% alumina ceramics were used as specimens in the form of plates with thickness of 12.7 and 25.4 mm. In order to investigate the effects of abrasive waterjet cutting parameters on the cutting of ceramics, a statistical experimental designan eight level four-factor design scheme requiring 64 experimental runs, was adopted and four main and easy-to-adjust AWJ input parameters were selected, these being: waterjet pressure which was varied from 138 to 345 MPa; traverse speed which was varied from 15 to 50 mm min 1; abrasive ow rate which was varied from 0.575 to 0.910 kg min 1; and stand-off distance which was varied from 2 to 6 mm.

0924-0136/98/$19.00 1998 Published by Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved. PII S 0 9 2 4 - 0 1 3 6 ( 9 7 ) 0 0 2 7 8 - 1

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The other parameters kept constant were as follows: diameter of the waterjet orice =0.41 mm; diameter of the mixing tube=1.27 mm; type of abrasive and its grain size = Idaho garnet, Mesh No. 80; impact angle = 90 (this parameter was changed in the angle cutting and oscillation-cutting experiments.

3. Topographical characteristics of uncut-through kerf The surface nish of the uncut-through ceramic kerf was observed to vary from the top to the bottom of the cut and the cut surface can be divided into three zones (Fig. 1a): the upper zone which has a smooth surface and no visible striations and pits, material removal occurs primarily by particle impact at shallow angles [5]; in the lower zone which is characterized by numerous pits, the penetration process occurs by the large-angle attack of particles associated with jet upward deection; the middle zone which has obvious striations but no pits, marks a transition from the cutting-wear mode to the deformation wear mode, this area generally being less than 15% of the whole surface area. By comparing the structures of the cut surface (Fig. 1a) and the cross-section of the kerf geometry (Fig. 1b), it was found that the width of kerf tapered in the upper zone and the width at the end of this zone was equal to the least width of the cut, in the middle zone the width of kerf remained unchanged and was also equal to the least width; in the lower zone the kerf curvature changed greatly and ballooning formation was observed. As the depth of penetration increased, such formation became enlarged. It was found that the top width Wtop and the least width W0 changed little as the water pressure, traverse

Fig. 2. A schematic diagram of the kerf geometry cross-section.

speed and abrasive ow rate were changed and the value of (Wtop W0) appeared to be constant. The kerf geometry is illustrated in Fig. 2. Supposing q to denote the taper angle and Dup to denote the depth of the upper zone, then: cot(q)=2Dup/(Wtop W0) Since (Wtop W0) may be taken as constant, the correlation between the taper angle and the depth of the upper smooth zone can be considered as cotangential.

4. Angle cutting and head oscillation techniques The jet impact angle is dened as the angle between the jet and the plane of the workpiece, which corresponds with the nozzle angle. Experimental results (Fig. 3) showed that the optimal jet impact angle for the maximum total penetration depth was between 8085 (a jet forward angle of 105). In addition, it was observed that at 7075 of the jet impact angle (a jet forward angle of 2015), the surface drag angle in the lower zone could be reduced to zero. Based on the knowledge that a suitable forward jet impact angle can

Fig. 1. Presenting: (a) an illustration of the three zones in the cut surface; and (b) an illustration of the kerf geometry cross-section.

Fig. 3. Effect of the jet impact angle on the total penetration depth. Case A: P =345 MPa, V = 20 mm min 1, q =0.81 kg min 1; case B: P =31 MPa, V =15 mm min 1, q =0.72 kg min 1.

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Fig. 5. Comparison between the cut surfaces of mild steel produced with oscillation and without oscillation.

Fig. 4. Comparison between the ceramic cut surfaces produced with oscillation and without oscillation (Dup/Dup = 1.36): (a) cutting with oscillation, oscillation angle =15, oscillation frequency = 90 cycles min 1; (b) cutting without oscillation.

reduce striation drag angles effectively and that the AWJ cutting head vibrations affect the formation and pattern of surface striations greatly [2], a new technique of cutting head forward oscillation along the cutting path in the plane of the cut was applied to the AWJ cutting process and used to reduce the striation zone in AWJ generated surfaces, thus enhancing the cutting quality. The analysis of the results showed that under the same input process parameters, the upper smooth-zone depth with oscillation increased by more than 30% compared with that without oscillation (Fig. 4). Both the striation drag angle and striation controlled frequency in the lower striation zone decreased due to the controlled oscillation procedure. This superior effect also took place in AWJ cutting of other materials such as mild steel (Fig. 5) and aluminium when using the head oscillation technique. In this study, the striation frequency is dened as the number of striations along the cutting path (striations mm 1). The oscillation angle is the maximum jet forward angle during every oscillation cycle. The input process parameters kept constant in the oscillation cutting experiments were as follows: water pressure P= 345 MPa, abrasive ow rate q =0.73 kg min 1, stand-off distance h=2 mm.

15 and 20, the striation drag angle could be reduced to zero, and when the jet forward angle was about 10 the maximum total penetration depth could be obtained. Therefore, the oscillation angle was varied from 5 to 30 the maximum total penetration depth could be obtained. Therefore, the oscillation angle was varied from 5 to 30 in the head oscillation experiments. It was observed (Fig. 6) that as the oscillation angle surfaces and the depth difference between these two side surfaces decreased. However, as the oscillation angle increased to about 20, the depth difference increased sharply. This is because with this increased oscillation angle the scanning abrasive wear became more effective and the smooth-zone depth increased. When the oscillation angle exceeded 20, cutting head unbalancing due to the head oscillation became obvious and this caused one of the two side cut surfaces to wear more profoundly than the other one, i.e. the smooth-zone depth difference of the two side surface increased. The optimum oscillation angle was found to lie between 15 and 20. However, in this study when the oscillation angle was 30, one side surfaces smooth-zone depth Dup

4.1. Effect of the oscillation angle on the smooth-zone depth

From the previous angle cutting study, it became apparent that when the jet forward angle was between

Fig. 6. Effect of oscillation angle on the average smooth-zone depth (curves A and B) and depth difference (curves C and D). Curves A and C: oscillation frequency= 75 cycles min 1, traverse speed= 15 mm min 1; curves B and D: oscillation frequency = 100 cycles min 1, traverse speed =20 mm min 1.

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5. Conclusions Abrasive waterjet technology is effective in machining hard materials such as ceramics. The abrasive waterjet cutting of ceramics can be improved greatly by using the new technique of cutting head forward oscillation in the plane of the cut. The smooth-zone depth with oscillation can be increased by more than 30% compared with that without oscillation. The head oscillation does not affect the traverse speed, which can be increased considerably without compromising the quality of surface nish. This new technique requires no additional cost and can also be used for AWJ cutting of other materials more effectively. The cut surface of the uncut-through kerf can be divided into three zones. In the upper zone which has a smooth surface and no visible striations and pits, the kerf width tapers and the width at the end of this zone equals the least width of the cut W0; in the middle zone which has obvious striations but no pits, the kerf width stays the same and also equals W0; and in the lower zone which is characterized by numerous pits, the kerf curvature changes greatly and the ballooning formation is profound.

Fig. 7. Effect of oscillation frequency on the average smooth depth (curves A and B) and depth difference (curves C and D). Curves A and C: oscillation angle = 15, V =15 mm min 1; curves B and D: oscillation angle =10, V =15 mm min 1.

increased greatly. For example, in the case of V = 15 mm min 1 and oscillation frequency = 6V (90 cycles min 1), one side surfaces Dup increased by 104.76% compared to Dup without oscillation and in the case of V =20 mm min 1 and oscillation frequency= 6V (120 cycles min 1), one side surfaces Dup increased by 80.85%. These cases are very useful for some applications which just need a controlled surface on one side.

4.2. Effect of oscillation frequency on the smooth-zone depth

It was observed (Fig. 7) that as the oscillation frequency increased, the average smooth-zone depth of the two side cut surfaces increased and the depth difference decreased. However, as the oscillation frequency increased to a specic given value, the average smoothzone depth decreased. This is because when the oscillation frequency was very high, the effectiveness of the scanning abrasive wear mechanism decreased and was evident from the decrease in the smooth-zone depth. Also, too-high frequency oscillation is harmful for the life and balancing of the waterjet equipment. Furthermore, it was found that as the traverse speed increased, the optimum oscillation frequency increased. Within the range of traverse speed (V) for cutting advanced ceramics (10 to 30 mm min 1) the optimum oscillation frequency was around 6V. For example, when V= 15 mm min 1, the optimum frequency was around 90 cycles min 1; when V =25 mm min 1, the optimum oscillation frequency was around 150 cycles min 1.

References
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