PRINCIPLE OF THE PROCESS

 In Water jet machining (WJM)

WATER JET works on the principle of
erosion effect of a high velocity,
MACHINING (WJM) small diameter jet of water.
 The jet velocity may be as high
as 900 m/s .
 As the high velocity water jet is
discharged from the orifice, the
jet tends to entrain atmospheric
air and flares out decreasing its
cutting ability.
EQUIPMENT USED

 HYDRAULIC POWER PACK

 The heart of the power pack is a positive displacement hydraulic pump. The hydraulic
power pack delivers the hydraulic oil to the intensifier. The intensifier is operated by a
direction control valve. Water is pumped to the small cylinder of the intensifier. The oil
drawn from a reservoir is pumped to the larger cylinder of the intensifier which uses
low pressure oil to produce a high pressure water.The pressure amplification is taking
place in the small cylinder of the intensifier. The water is supplied at a sufficiently high
pressure, 200-400 MPa (2000-4000 bar). The intensifier that acts a high pressure
pump, produces water pressure as high as 40 times that of the oil.
EQUIPMENT USED


ACCUMULATOR As the larger piston changes direction within the intensifier, there would
be a drop in the delivery pressure. To counter such drops, a thick cylinder is added to the
delivery unit to accommodate water at high pressure. This is called an “accumulator”
which acts like a “fly wheel” of an engine and minimises fluctuation of water pressure. So
the purpose of the accumulator is to provide smooth outflow of high pressure water.
 PIPELINES High-pressure water is then fed through the flexible stainless steel pipes to
the cutting head. It is worth mentioning here that such pipes are to carry water at 4000
bar (400 MPa) with flexibility incorporated in them with joints but without any leakage.
On/Off control valve of water flow can be operated manually or electronically.
EQUIPMENT USED

 NOZZLE
 The nozzle is made of synthetic sapphire which is wear resistant but easily machinable. Internal
diameter of nozzle usually ranges from 0.07 to 0.50 mm. Presence of foreign particles or
constriction of nozzle by mineral deposits also results in nozzle failure. Normally life of a sapphire
nozzle is usually 250-500 hr.
 CATCHER AND DRAIN
 Water jet outside the nozzle, travels at a very high speed. To minimise the exposed length fof a
jet, from safety point of view and also to minimise the process noise, a catcher is used. It is
attached to a draining hose. The catcher uses hard and replacable inserts to break the jet quickly
and completely before it reaches bottom of the tube.
WATER JET CIRCUITRY
EQUIPMENT USED
PROCESS PARAMETERS

 The important process parameters that affect the performance of WJM is

 (i) Pressure
 (ii) Diameter of Nozzle
 (iii)Traverse rate
 (iv) stand-off distance.
 Cutting at higher pressure is faster. Thick materials can be machined without difficulty at
high pressure.
 Low traverse rate is used for machining thick materials.
 Stand-off distance is less effective variable and its value normally lies between 3-25 mm.
PROCESS CAPABILITIES

 This process does not require predrilled hole to start cutting in any
direction and location provided is accessible for the water jet.
 Too thick materials can be cut in more than one pass.
 Second and subsequent passes are used to make the cut deeper rather
than wider.
 Ultra high pressure water jets can cut to the accuracy of +/- 0.25 mm.
 Machined surfaces have no burrs, no thermal damage and good
surface finish
 This process does not generate airborne dust; hence hazards during
machining of fiber composites and asbestos are minimum.
 Low level of mechanical stress placed on the surface thus preventing
damage and deformation
APPLICATIONS

 This process is good for cutting and slitting of porous non-metals like wood,
leather, foam, asbestos, corrugated cardboards.
ABRASIVE WATER JET
MACHINING(AWJM)
 PRINICIPLE
 Abrasives, such as garnet, diamond or powders, can be mixed into the
water to make a slurry with better cutting properties than straight
water. In principle, this process is similar to abrasive jet machining
except that in this case water is used as a carrier fluid in place of gas.
 A water jet and a stream of abrasives coming from two different
directions mix up and pass through the abrasive jet nozzle. Here a part
of the momentum of water jet is transferred to the abrasives. As a
result velocity of the abrasives rises rapidly. Thus a high velocity
stream of mixture of abrasives and water impinges on the workpiece
and removes material.
EQUIPMENT USED
AWJM setup is made up of four important elements (i) Pumping system
(ii) Abrasive feed system (iii) Abrasive water jet nozzle (iv) Catcher

Pumping system: The pumping system is similar to water jet machining.

Abrasive Feed system: Abrasive feed system delivers a steam of dry
abrasives to the nozzle. It must deliver a controlled flow of abrasive
particles to the jet nozzle. Flow of water jet in a mixing tube is
responsible to create enough suction for the flow of the abrasives.
Flow rate of abrasives can be controlled by changing the diameter of
the control orifice.
  Abrasive Water jet nozzle
 It performs two function (i) mixing
of abrasive jet and water (ii) to
form a high velocity abrasive jet.
EQUIPMENT USED  Water is supplied at high pressure
to the nozzle.
 The potential or pressure head of
the water is converted into velocity
head by allowing the high-pressure
water to issue through an orifice of
small diameter (0.2 – 0.4 mm).
 The velocity water jet is directed to
the mixing chamber. The mixing
chamber has a typical dimension of
inner diameter 6 mm and a length of
10 mm. As the high velocity water is
issued from the orifice into the
mixing chamber, low pressure
(vacuum) is created within the
mixing chamber.
 Metered abrasive particles are
introduced into the mixing chamber
through a port.
  Mixing means gradual entrainment of
abrasive particles within the water
jet and finally the abrasive water jet
comes out of the focussing tube or
Mixing the nozzle.

 During mixing process, the abrasive

particles are gradually accelerated
due to transfer of momentum from
the water phase to abrasive phase
and when the jet finally leaves the
focussing tube, both phases, water
and abrasive, are assumed to be at
same velocity.

 The mixing chamber is immediately

followed by the focussing tube or the
inserts. The focussing tube is
generally made of tungsten carbide
(powder metallurgy product) having
an inner diameter of 0.8 to 1.6 mm
and a length of 50 to 80 mm.
Tungsten carbide is used for its
abrasive resistance.
 Abrasive particles during mixing try
to enter the jet, but they are
reflected away due to interplay of
buoyancy and drag force. They go on
interacting with the jet and the inner
walls of the mixing tube, until they
are accelerated using the momentum
of the water jet.
Abrasive Water Jet Nozzle
 Two kinds of abrasive jet nozzles (i)
single jet side feed nozzle (ii) Multiple
jet central feed nozzle.
 In a single jet feed nozzle abrasives fed
from the side mix with water jet in the
mixing chamber. This nozzle is less
expensive, simple to make but does not
provide an optimal mixing efficiency,
and a rapid wear at the exit part of the
nozzle.
 The multiple jets central feed nozzle
consists of a centrally located abrasive
feed system surrounded by multiple
water jets which are disposed such as a
converging annulus of water is
produced. It gives higher nozzle life and
better mixing of abrasives into the
water jet. However it is difficult and
costly to fabricated such nozzles
because of the angle of convergence.
CATCHERS

 Once the abrasive jet has been used for machining, they may have
sufficiently high level of energy depending on the type of application.
Such high-energy abrasive water jet needs to be contained before they
can damage any part of the machine or operators. “Catcher” is used to
absorb the residual energy of the AWJ and dissipate the same.
 Three different types of catcher – water basin type, submerged steel
balls and TiB2 plate type.
PROCESS VARIABLES
 Parameters affect the performance of AWJM processes are
1. Water: Pressure, flow rate
2. Abrasives: type, size and flow rate
3. Cutting parameters: Feed rate and stand-off-distance
WATER (Jet Pressure)
 Figure shows the relationship
between DoC and water jet
pressure.
 There is a minimum pressure
known as critical pressure,
below which no machining
would take place.
 This minimum pressure exists
because a minimum abrasive
particle velocity is required to
cut a particular material. This
value is different for different
workpiece materials.
 When abrasive flow rate
increases the doc vs pressure
relation become steeper
WATER (Flow rate)
 Water flow rate (Q) is proportional to square root of pressure
P 0.5 and square of diameter of the nozzle do2.
 The increase in water flow rate does not increase the depth of
cut proportionally.
 Increase in water flow rate beyond a certain value may result
in insignificant gain in particle velocity, high pressure loss and
in some cases with reduced DoC.
Abrasives (Flow rate)
 Machined depth of cut is
proportional to the abrasive
flow rate and square of particle
velocity.
 However an increase in
abrasive flow rate beyond the
critical value would reduce
machined depth.
 Increase in abrasive flow rate
enhances wear rate of mixing
nozzles and reduces mixing
efficiency inside AWJ nozzle.
Abrasives (Particle Size and material)
 Commonly used abrasive particle size ranges from 100-150
grit.
 There is an optimum particle size for a particular workpiece
material and also for a particular nozzle mixing chamber.
 Garnet, silica and silicon carbide are commonly used abrasives
in AWJC. Higher the hardness of the workpiece material,
harder should be the abrasives to be used.
 Machined depth is also affected by the type of the abrasives.
 While selecting the type of abrasive for a particular
application, one should consider the cost, nozzle wear rate,
environment constraints, machining rate and strength of
materials.
Abrasives (Flow rate)
 Machined depth of cut is
proportional to the abrasive
flow rate and square of particle
velocity.
 However an increase in
abrasive flow rate beyond the
critical value would reduce
machined depth.
 Increase in abrasive flow rate
enhances wear rate of mixing
nozzles and reduces mixing
efficiency inside AWJ nozzle.
CUTTING PARAMETERS (Traverse Speed
and stand-off distance)
 A decrease in traverse rate
increases the depth of cut.
However if one goes below a
minimum critical traverse rate
there would be hardly any
increase in the depth of cut.
 An increase in stand-off
distance rapidly decreases
machined depth. This may be
due the breakage of liquid
phase in the jet resulting in free
abrasive particles. These free
abrasive particles rebound upon
impact that leads to shallower
penetration. Beyond certain
SoD , the process will no longer
do the cutting.
PROCESS CAPABILITIES
 The tolerance is typically +/- 0.005 inch
 Cut thin stuff, or thick materials (200mm) with a narrow kerf.
 Omni-directional cutting having no burrs
 No heat generated .
 Machined surfaces have not revealed the presence of any thermal or
mechanical damage to them.
 Leaves a satin smooth finish, thus reducing secondary operations
Applications of AWJM
 The process has been employed to cut a wide range of materials
including both metals and non-metals.
 Used to machine sandwiched honeycomb materials currently used in
aerospace industries.
 Various steels have been cut into different shapes like plate, tube,
corrugated structure etc.
Applications of AWJM

 Stainless steel plate 50mm

thick machined with AWJM.

 Despite the long tool path, the

spring shown in the picture
only took about 10 minutes to
machine
Applications of AWJM

 A part machined from 2" (5 cm)

thick concrete (it's pink
because there was a pigment
added to the concrete

 A ½" (1.3 cm) thick glass rose

next to some ¼" (6 mm) thick
marble rose heads
Applications of AWJM

 Quartz glass dragon

demonstrating the extreme
level of detail that can be done
for glass work.
 This spring was cut from 1/4"
(6mm) plate glass
Applications of AWJM

 A tiny waterjet part made with a mini-nozzle

 Thin wall cutting in ½" (13 mm) aluminum .The walls in the
honeycomb piece are about 0.025" (0.6 mm) thick. Note the
uniformity of the walls as well as their thinness
Limitations of the process

• One of the main disadvantages of water jet cutting is that a limited

number of materials can be cut economically. While it is possible to cut
tool steels, and other hard materials, the cutting rate has to be greatly
reduced, and the time to cut a part can be very long. Because of this,
abrasive water jet cutting can be very costly and outweigh the
advantages.
• Taper is also a problem with waterjet cutting in very thick materials.
Taper is when the jet exits the part at a different angle than it enters
the part, and can cause dimensional inaccuracy. Decreasing the speed
of the head may reduce this, although it can still be a problem.
• Another disadvantage is that very thick parts can not be cut with
waterjet cutting and still hold dimensional accuracy. If the part is too
thick, the jet may dissipate some, and cause it to cut on a diagonal, or
to have a wider cut at the bottom of the part than the top. It can also
cause a rough wave pattern on the cut surface