Abrasive Water Jet

Machining (AWJM)

Sanjeev Sharma
Professor, Deptt. of Mech. Engg.
CEC, Landran
Working Principle

 Abrasive jet machining (AJM), abrasive flow

machining (AFM), and ultrasonic machining
(USM) are the processes which use
abrasives for machining of materials.
 In AJM, air driven abrasive jet strikes the
work piece and removes the material while
in USM, abrasive grains in liquid slurry strike
the work piece surface at ultrasonic
frequency and cut the material at low
material removal rate (MRR).
Working Principle

 Recent developments have witnessed

improvements in jet cutting
technology by using abrasive water
jets where water is used as carrier
fluid.
Introduction
 Jet of mixture of water and abrasive
particles remove materials
 Pressure→ 100 MPa
 Jet speed as high as about 900 mls.
 Removal of material from upper most part
of a kerf is governed by erosive action
 Removal of material from lower part of kerf
is governed by deformation wear
Introduction

 Used to machine
Non-Metals →
Ceramics,Composites,Rocks etc.
Metals →
Copper, Aluminium, WC, Lead etc.
Introduction

 Operations→
Drilling, Cutting, Deburring etc.

 Can cut any kind of material, high

edge quality, adaptable for remote
control, recycling of abrasives etc.
AWJM Machine Elements

 Pumping system
 Abrasive feed system
 Abrasive water jet nozzle
 Catcher
Pumping System
 It produces a high velocity water jet by pressurizing
water to as high as 415 MPa by means of an
intensifier.

 To acquire such a high pressure, 75 HP motor may

be required.

 High velocity jet

 Water flow requirements up to 3 gpm are quite

common.
Abrasive Feed System

 Delivers a stream of dry abrasives to the

nozzle.
 Deliver a controlled flow of abrasive
particles to the jet nozzle.
 To control flow rate→ Control orifice
diameter.
 Such systems have the limitation that they
cannot supply the abrasives over a long
distance.
Contd…

 To overcome this drawback→

 Directly use slurry (mixture of
abrasives and water) instead of mixing
them in a nozzle
 Required more power than the power
required by the dry abrasive feed
system
Contd…

 Highly pressurized water is passed

through a nozzle of diameter ranging
from 0.075 to 0.635 mm to obtain the
desired velocity (about 700 mls) of a
jet of abrasive water mixture.
 For longer life (say, 250-500 hr) of the
nozzle, it should be made of sapphire.
Abrasive Water Jet Nozzle

 Functions:
(i) mixing of abrasive jet and water
(ii) to form a high velocity water
abrasive jet

 Materials→ Sapphire, tungsten carbide

(WC), or boron carbide
Kinds Of Abrasive Jet Nozzles

 Kinds of abrasive jet nozzles→

Single jet side feed nozzle

Multiple jet central feed nozzle

Single Jet Side Feed Nozzle

 Abrasives fed from the side mix with water

jet in the mixing chamber

 Less expensive

 Simple to make

 Does not provide an optimal mixing

efficiency
Fig. Abrasive water jet nozzle, a) details of construction, (b) single jet
side feed noozle, (c) multiple jets central feed nozzle
Multiple Jet Central Feed Nozzle

 Centrally located abrasive feed system

 Surrounded by multiple water jets →

converging annulus

 Higher nozzle life & better mixing

 Difficult & costly to fabricate

Catcher

 STATIONARY NOZZLE & MOVING

WORKPIECE
Long narrow tube placed under the point
of cut to capture the used jet
 MOVING NOZZLE & STATIONARY W/P
A water filled settling tank underneath
the w/p
Transfer of high pressure water
 Flexible hose (press. < 24 MPa)
 Rigid tubing (press. > 24 MPa)
Process Parameters
 Water → flow rate and pressure
 Abrasives →type, size, and flow rate
 Water nozzle and abrasive jet nozzle
 Cutting parameters → feed rate and
stand-off-distance
 W/p material
 Mixing tube → diameter & length
 Angle of cutting
 Traverse speed
 Number of passes
Water Jet Pressure
 CRITICAL PRESSURE (Pc) →

→Below this pressure no cutting

→Different for different work piece materials

 ABOVE A DEFINITE JET PRESSURE

→Machined depth tends to stabilize

 RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN JET PRESSURE AND MACHINED DEPTH →

Steeper with higher abrasive flow rate

 INCREASED PRESSURE

 Higher nozzle wear rate

 Higher cost of pump maintenance
 Lower efficiency
Water Flow Rate
 WATER → PROPELLING FLUID ENABLES HIGH
ABRASIVE FLOW RATE (UP TO 5 kg/min)

 ABRASIVE VELOCITY → UP TO 300 m/s

 AWJs → MORE SUITABLE FOR CUTTING

 Water flow rate (Q) is proportional to square root

of pressure (p) and square of diameter of the
nozzle (dn)
Contd…
Abrasive Flow Rate
 Machined depth (depth of cut) is proportional to
the abrasive flow rate (m) and square of particle
velocity (Vp).

 An increase in abrasive flow rate beyond the critical

value (mc) would reduce machined depth

 Increase in abrasive flow rate enhances wear rate

of mixing nozzles and reduces mixing efficiency
inside AWJ nozzle
Abrasive Particle Size

 Optimum particle size

 Finer particles → for shallow depth of
cut
 Coarse particles → for high depth of
cut
 Different abrasive sizes for different
depths of cut
Abrasive Materials
 Garnet, silica and silicon carbide are
commonly used abrasives in AWJC
 Machined depth is also affected by the type
of the abrasives used
 While selecting a type of abrasive for a
particular application, consider cost, nozzle
wear rate, environment constraints,
machining rate, and strength of the
particles.
Number of Passes

 Multiple passes can be employed in

the following two different ways:
(i) a single water jet with multiple passes
(ii) multiple tandem AWJs with a single
traverse (pass)
Increase in number of passes →↑
cumulative depth
Number of Passes

Variation in depth of cut with a change in no. of passes

(at high traverse rate)
Stand-off-Distance

 An increase in stand-off-distance
rapidly decreases machined depth
 Beyond upper value of sod → no
cutting
 Smaller sod → deeper cut
Stand-off-Distance

Effect of SOD on depth of cut

Process Performance

 Can cut thick materials → up to 200

mm
 Kerf width decreases as w/p hardness
increases
 Machined surfaces → no thermal /
mechanical damage
 Machining of glass → stray cutting
leads to frost surface
Applications

 Metals & non-metals both

 Omni-directional cutting with no burrs
 Industries → aerospace, nuclear,
foundries, construction, etc
 Steel components cut → plates, tubes,
corrugated structures, etc
Advantages
 Cutting electrically non-conductive as well as
difficult-to-machine materials comparatively
more rapidly and efficiently than other
processes.
 Practically no dust
 High cutting speed
 Multidirectional cutting capacity
 No fire hazards
 No thermal or deformation stresses
Advantages

 High quality of machined edge

 Easy adaptation for remote control
 Recycling of abrasive particles
 Low power requirements
 Almost no delamination
 Reduced striations