Abrasive Water Jet Machining

Introduction
 Abrasive water jet machining is an hybrid non-traditional
process which takes advantages of both AJM and WJM.
 In these processes (WJM and AJWM), the mechanical
energy of water and abrasive phases are used to achieve
material removal or machining
 A focused stream of abrasive particles, carried by high
pressure air or gas is made to impinge on the work surface
through a nozzle and work material is removed by erosion
by high velocity abrasive particles
 First commercial use was in automotive industry for cutting
glass in 1983, in aerospace industry for cutting high strength
materials like Inconel, titanium, composites like carbon fiber
 Process
 Slurry cutting abrasive jets are
formed by mixing solid abrasive
particles with a high velocity
(1000 m/s) water jet
 Water is used to accelerate the
solid particles
 Typical water jet pressure are
from 70 to 350 MN/m², water jet
dia ranges from 0.1 to 1 mm
 As momentum is transferred
from the water flow to the
abrasive particles, abrasives are
accelerated to high velocities
 Equipment
The basic machining system of AWJM incorporates the
following elements.
1. Abrasive delivery system
2. Control system
3. Pump and Intensifier
4. Abrasive jet nozzle
5. Catcher
6. Mixing tube
7. Motion system
 Abrasive delivery system

 It provides controlled flow of

abrasive particles to the abrasive jet
nozzle
 AWJM abrasive feed system deliver
a stream of dry abrasives to the
abrasive jet nozzle
 Such systems have the limitation
that they cannot supply the
abrasives over a long distance
 An alternative approach to the dry
abrasive feed system is that uses an
abrasive slurry
 Abrasive jet nozzle
 It provides efficient mixing of
the abrasives and the water
jet and to form the high
velocity abrasive water jet
combination
 To minimize abrasive wear
the nozzle is made form
tungsten carbide or boron
carbide
 Two types of nozzles are
used
1. Right angle head
2. Straight head
Two major design concepts for the nozzle are
1. single jet side feed nozzle
2. multiple jet, central feed nozzle
 Process parameters
1. Orifice – 0.1 to 0.3 mm with 100-150
hours of life
2. Focusing tube – WC -0.8 to 2.4 mm
3. Pressure – 2500 to 4000 bars
4. Abrasive –garnet and olivine -125 to 60
micron
5. Abrasive flow - 0.1 to 1.0 kg/min
6. Stand-of distance -1 to 2 mm
7. Machine impact angle - 60˚ to 90˚
8. Traverse speed -100 mm/min to 5
m/min
9. Depth of cut – 1 mm to 250 mm
 Machining characteristics of AWJM
1. Effect of water pressure on the depth of cut
 There is a minimum
pressure below which no
machining takes place
 The critical pressure exists
because a minimum
abrasive particle velocity is
required to cut a particular
material
 The machine depth
increases as the pressure
increases
 increases in pressure also
increases the wear and the
cost of the pump
2. Effect of abrasive flow rate on Doc for various work
materials
 Depth of cut depends directly
on abrasive flow rate and
square of particle velocity
 There is a critical abrasive flow
rate above which Doc
decreases
 As the abrasive flow rate
increases wear also increases
 Brittle materials like cast iron
gives much depth of cut
 3. Effect of abrasive flow rate on Doc for various
abrasive materials

 Garnet, silica, silicon carbide

are the abrasives used in
AWJM
 Selection of abrasive depends
on hardness of the work
material
 Soft materials require soft
abrasives and hard material
require hard abrasives
 4. Effect of traverse rate on the area of penetration

 Area generation rate is

higher at lower
transverse speed
 There is an optimum
range of traverse speed
for which area of
penetration is maximum
 If traverse speed is
increases beyond a
certain value, area of
penetration decreases
 5. Effect of stand-of distance(SOD) on the depth of cut

 An increase in SOD decreases

the DOC
 As the SOD increases liquid
phase of the jet breaks up into
droplets resulting in free
abrasive particles
 These free abrasives rebound
upon impact that leads to a
shallower penetration
 There is an upper valve of SOD
beyond which the process will
no longer do the cutting
 6. Effect of variation of DOC with a change in the
number of passes

 As the number of passes

increases depth of cut
also increases
 Low speed gives higher
DOC for the same number
of passes
Comparison between AJM, WJM, AFM,AWJM
 Applications of AWJM
1. Cutting of concrete, marbles and granite
2. Drilling and turning
3. Nuclear plant dismantling
4. De-burring
5. Surgery
6. Cutting of steel, corrugated structures, pipes and tubes
7. Cutting of composites such as FRP, glass
8. Can machine both metals and nonmetals
9. Hardened tool steel
10. Titanium: honeycomb structures
11. Cleaning of parts
12. Pocket milling
13. Cutting of carbides and ceramics
 Advantages of AWJM
1. AWJM is faster compared to other. It is an omnidirectional
cutting process
2. There are no moving parts, work fixture requirement is less
3. Complex 2D contours can be generated easily
4. Side thrust during the machining is less
5. There is no heat generation during the process
6. It can cut both thin stuff and thick stuff , with out any
delamination
7. It gives good surface finish and there is no need for
secondary operation
8. AWJM does not produce any dust or harmful particles
9. Abrasives do not get embedded into the work material
10. There are no mechanical stress
Disadvantages of AWJM
1. Limited number of materials can be cut economically
2. High level of noise is generated during the process
3. Wear and tear of nozzle is high. Nozzle life is low
4. There is stray cutting in AWJM
5. Equipment cost is high, it requires good maintenance of
nozzle and abrasive feed system
6. Rebounding abrasive may pose hazards to operator or parts
of machine
7. Parts may get corroded and rusted in AWJM
8. The size of cavity that can be machined is limited
9. Higher power consumption