Water Jet and

Abrasive Water Jet Machining

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Instructional Objectives
 List different non conventional machining processes
 Differentiate between water and abrasive water jet machining
 List different WJM and AWJM systems
 List different modules of AWJM systems
 List application of AWJM
 List advantages of AWJM
 List materials that can be processed by AWJM
 Describe function of different elements of AWJM
 Describe mechanism of material removal
 Develop models for mechanism of material removal
 Identify parameters related to product quality
 Identify limitations of AWJM
 Identify futuristic developments in the area of AWJM
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WJM and AWJM

WJM – Pure
WJM – with stabiliser
AWJM – entrained – three
phase – abrasive, water & air
AWJM – suspended – two
phase – abrasive and water
o Direct pumping

o Indirect Pumping

o Bypass Pumping
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General Experimental Conditions

Orifice – Sapphires – 0.1 to 0.3 mm
Focussing Tube – WC – 0.8 to 2.4 mm
Pressure – 2500 to 4000 bar
Abrasive – garnet and olivine – #125 to
#60
Abrasive flow - 0.1 to 1.0 Kg/min
Stand off distance – 1 to 2 mm
Machine Impact Angle – 60o to 900
Traverse Speed – 100 mm/min to 5 m/min
Depth of Cut – 1 mm to 250 mm
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Photographic view – entrained

Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA

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Advantages - AWJM
Extremely fast set-up
and programming
Very little fixturing for
most parts
Machine virtually any 2D
shape on any material
Very low side forces
during the machining
Almost no heat
generated on your part
Machine thick plates
50 mm Stainless Steel
Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA
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Materials
Steels Concrete
Non-ferrous alloys Stone – Granite
Ti alloys, Ni- alloys Wood
Polymers Reinforced plastics
Honeycombs Metal Polymer
Metal Matrix Laminates
Composite Glass Fibre Metal
Ceramic Matrix Laminates
Composite
 8

Applications

Paint removal Peening

Cleaning Cutting
Cutting soft
Pocket Milling
materials
Cutting frozen meat Drilling
Textile, Leather Turning
industry Nuclear Plant
Mass Immunization Dismantling
Surgery
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Few more parts

Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA

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Different Modules – entrained

LP booster pump On-off valve
Hydraulic unit Orifice
Additive Mixer Mixing Chamber
Intensifier Focussing tube or
Accumulator inserts
Flexible
transmission line Catcher
CNC table
Abrasive metering
device
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AWJM – Schematics – entrained

6
1.LP Booster 5(a) 5(b)
2.Hydraulic Drive 5
3. Additive Mixer
4. Direction Control
5. Intensifier
4
5a. LP Intensifier 3
5b. HP Intensifier
6. Accumulator Point A
1 2
Point A : Entry to Cutting Head
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Intensifier – entrained

pw pw
ph

ph A LP
pw   100  40  4000 bar
A HP
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Jet Former or Cutting Head – entrained

High pressure
water

orifice
abrasive

cover
Focussing
tube
Photograph Courtesy – Omax Corporation, USA
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Mixing Process – Schematic – entrained

waterjet
Trajectory
of an Mixing
abrasive chamber
particle

Interaction
with
Focussing
focussing
tube
tube
 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
2 pw
vwj    = velocity coefficient of the orifice
w


qw    vwj  Aorifice
 
qw    vwj  do 2
4
  2 pw
qw    do 2  
4 w
  2 pw
qw  cd  do 2 
4 w
where,

 = Coefficient of “vena-contracta”
cd = Discharge coefficient of the orifice
Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Total Power of the Water Jet

Pwj  pw  qw
 2 pw
Pwj  pw  cd  do 2 
4 w
 2 pw 3
Pwj  cd  do2 
4 w
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Mixing Process – Modelling

   
  m v before   m v after
  
   

 m air vair  mw vwj  m abr vabr    m air vair  mw vwj  m abr vabr 
 before   after

  

 mw vwj   mw  mabr  vawj
 

mw
vawj  vwj
  

m
 w  mabr 
 
1
vawj  vwj
 
 1 R 
 

v  η. 1 
.v



awj 1 R  wj



R is the loading factor
 Momentum loss function
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Catcher

(a) Water basin (b) steel/WC/ceramic (c) Catcher plates

balls (TiB2)
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Suspension Jet – Schematics

Indirect Pumping Bypass principle
hp-water
from pump bypass Pressure
vessel
Restriction
Pressure valve abrasive
vessel
isolator

suspension hp-water
from pump
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Product Quality – Kerf

AWJ Velocity traverse velocity

Micro machined zone

Plastically deformed zone

Striation mark
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Kerf – Front View Jet affected zone

bt

bb
Burr
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Kerf – Front View - SEM

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Kerf – View from Back - SEM

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Mechanism of Material Removal

Low angle impact by abrasive grits –

ploughing and micro-cutting – Finnie’s
model and Hashish’s model
Plastic deformation at higher angle of
impact – Bitter’s model
Crack propagation – for brittle materials –
Kim’s model
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Mechanism of Material Removal

AWJ

Top Middle Bottom

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Mechanism of Material Removal

 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
1 
Pabr  2
m abr v awj
2
The power of the abrasive phase of  
2

 
the abrasive water jet Pabr
1  
 m abr 
1 
v wj 
2  1 R  
   
2
 
 
1   1 
Pabr  m w R  v wj 
2  1 R  
   
2
 
1  2 2 1 
Pabr  c d  d o  w v wj R  
2
v wj
2 4 1 R 
 
2
 
 2 2 1 
Pabr  c d  d o  w R  
3
v wj
8 1 R 
 
2
  3
 2 2 1   2 pw  2
Pabr  c d  d o  w R    
8 1 R   w 
 
2
  3
2 2 2  1  p w 2
Pabr  cd  d o R  
 1 R   w2
1
4
 
2
 2    32 2
Pabr  c d  d o R  p w
4  1  R  w
 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
 Pabr
MRR  Q 
u job
where,
u job = specific energy requirement in machining a
MRR = ht wv
material in AWJM
f
Where,
ht = depth of penetration

w = width of the kerf

= (w top + w bottom ) / 2
 di , the diameter of the focussing tube or nozzle or the
insert
vf = traverse speed of the AWJ or cutting speed
2 3
Therefore, 
R d 2 R 

2 3
    p 2 2
pw 2 2

h hc  cd  
2 w
4 d  1  R o u d v  
t d o
t
  u job d i v f  w
PP 4 1 R
MRR  u =
abr h d v 
job i f w
MRR   abr
MRR t i f
u job
job
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MAXIMIZE DEPTH
 Higher water pressure

Cutting ability
 Higher orifice diameter
 Smaller nozzle diameter
 Lower Traverse Speed
 Sharper grits
 Efficient orifice and
mixing chamber
 Bigger grit diameter
 R=1

Mixing ratio, R
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Environmental Issues

Water Recycling
Spent Water Disposal
Chip Recovery
Abrasive Recovery and Reuse
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Future – Abrasive Cryogenic Jet

Similar to AWJM
Pressure – 4200
bar
Orifice – 0.2 mm
Fluid – Liquid. N2
Abrasive – Dry Ice
No waste ‘cold’
process
 Indian Institute of Technology Delhi 32

Summary
 WJM and AWJM Systems
 Modules of AWJM Systems
 Application and Advantages of AWJM
 Materials that Can be Processed by AWJM
 Function of Different Modules of AWJM
 Modelling of Mechanism of Material Removal
 Product Quality
 Limitations of AWJM
 Futuristic Developments in the Area of AWJM
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Solved Problems – 1

Assuming no losses, determine water jet

velocity, when the water pressure is 4000 bar,
being issued from an orifice of diameter 0.3
mm

2p 2x4000x105
vw  ρ   894 m/s
w 1000
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Solved Problems – 2
Determine the mass flow rate of water for the
given problem assuming all related
coefficients to be 1.

mw  ρw.Qw  ρw π do 2v
w
4
1000x π x(0.3x103 )2 x894
4
 0.0631kg/s
 0.0631x60  3.8 kg/min
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Solved Problems – 3
If the mass flow rate of abrasive is 1 kg/min,
determine the abrasive water jet velocity
assuming no loss during mixing process using
the above data (data of Question. 1, 2 and 3)

 
 
   
 
 
v 

1 
v

  1 
v

 1 x894  707m/s



awj 1R  wj
 

 m 
 wj 1 1
 

 1 mabr

 
 

 3.8



 w

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Solved Problems – 4
Determine depth of penetration, if a steel plate
is AWJ machined at a traverse speed of 300
mm/min with an insert diameter of 1 mm. The
specific energy of steel is 13.6 J/mm3.
 
 
2 3
 2  1 
  p 2 2
ht  do R w
4 1 R 
 u dV
 
job i f
2 3
4000x105 2
   
   

h  π (0.3x103)2 1 1 2
   
   
t 4 3.8 1 1 13.6x109 x1x103 x 300 x103 1000





 3.8

 60
h  77.6 mm
t
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Quiz Questions
1.       WJM cannot be used to machine

(a)              frozen food (b)              plywood

(c)              leather (d)              steel
plates
ANSWER (d)
 2. In AWJM mixing process takes place in
 
(a)              intensifier (b)              catcher
(c)              mixing chamber(d)              orifice
ANSWER (c)
 38

Quiz Questions
3. Abrasive water jet velocity increases with (keeping all
other parameters unchanged)
 
(a) increasing traverse velocity of the job
(b)      decreasing mass flow rate of abrasive
(c)      decreasing traverse velocity of the job
(d)      increasing mass flow rate of abrasive
ANSWER (b)
4. In an environment friendly development concerning
AWJM, the following is used as abrasive
 
(a)              dry ice (b)        cubic boron nitrite
(c)              diamond (d)     tungsten carbide
ANSWER (a)