Effect of traverse speed on cut frontgeometry in abrasive water jet machining

Abstract

Abrasive water jet machining is an unconventional machining process, which is increasingly being used. It is suitable for cutting complex contoured elements, in all types of materials. The major disadvantages of this machining technique are ununiform quality of the machined surface at different depths of cut, lagging of the cut front of the machined surface from the vertical plane and the phenomenon of striation patterns on the cut surface. The striation patterns on machined surface are the trail of the abrasive water jet through the material, and as such, they represents the cut front. Striation may result in different flaws occurring at cutting closed contours and may cause irregularities at cutting angles. The objective of this paper was to determine traverse speed and depth of cut effect on the cut front geometry i.e. on the striation geometry. The experiments were carried out on 6 mm and 10 mm thick samples of aluminum alloy AA 6060 (EN AW-6060; ISO AlMgSi). Samples were machined with several traverse speeds. The lagging of the cut front, at different depths of cut, was measured and analyzed. The obtained results enabled us to define the influence of traverse speed on striation geometry.