MENG584

Advanced Manufacturing Processes

Presented by:
Assist. Prof. Dr. Mohammed.
Asmael
 Water Jet Machining WJM
Abrasive Water Jet Machining AWJM
Abrasive Jet Machining AJM
 Introduction
 Principle
 The machining system
 Process Parameters
 Applications
 Advantages
 Disadvantages
 Introduction
• The key element in water jet machining (WJM) is a water jet,
which travels at velocities as high as 900 m/s.
• When the stream strikes a workpiece surface, the erosive force
of water removes the material rapidly.
• The water, in this case, acts like a saw and cuts a narrow groove
in the workpiece material.
• WJM is a form of micro erosion. It works by forcing a large
volume of water through a small orifice in the nozzle.
 The machining system
• The water jet machining involves directing a high pressure (150-
1000 MPa) high velocity (540-1400 m/s) water jet (faster than the
speed of sound) to the surface to be machined. The fluid flow rate is
typically from 0.5 to 2.5 L/min
• The bulk of kinetic energy of jet is converted into pressure energy.
• If the local pressure caused by the water jet exceeds the strength of
the surface being machined, the material from the surface gets
eroded and a cavity is thus formed.
• Water is the most common fluid used, but additives such as alcohols, oil
products and glycerol are added when they can be dissolved in water to
improve the fluid characteristics
 The machining system
Water jet Machining consists of:
 Hydraulic Pump
 Intensifier
 Accumulator
 High Pressure Tubing
 Jet Cutting Nozzle
 Catcher
 Hydraulic Pump
 Powered from a 30 kilowatt (kW) electric motor
 Supplies oil at pressures as high as 117 bars.
 Compressed oil drives a plunger pump termed an intensifier.
 The hydraulic pump offers complete flexibility for water jet
cutting and cleaning applications.
 It also supports single or multiple cutting stations for increased
machining productivity.
 Intensifier
 Accepts the water at low pressure(typically 4 bar) and expels
it, through an accumulator, at higher pressures of 3800 bar.
 The intensifier converts the energy from the low-pressure
hydraulic fluid into ultrahigh-pressure water.
 The hydraulic system provides fluid power to piston in the
intensifier center section.
 A limit switch, located at each end of the piston travel, signals
the electronic controls to shift the directional control valve and
reverses the piston direction.
 The intensifier assembly, with a plunger on each side of the
piston, generates pressure in both directions.
 Intensifier
 As one side of the intensifier is in the inlet stroke, the opposite
side is generating ultrahigh-pressure output.
 During the plunger inlet stroke, filtered water enters the high-
pressure cylinder through the check value assembly.
 After the plunger reverses direction, the water is compressed
and exits at ultrahigh pressure.
 Accumulator
 Maintains the continuous flow of the high-pressure water and
eliminates pressure fluctuations.
 It relies on the compressibility of water (12 percent at 3800
bar) in order to maintain a uniform discharge pressure and
water jet velocity, when the intensifier piston changes its
direction.
 High Pressure Tubing
 Transports pressurized water to the cutting head.
 Typical tube diameters are 6 to 14 mm.
 The equipment allows for flexible movement of the cutting
head.
 The cutting action is controlled either manually or through a
remote-control valve specially designed for this purpose.
 Jet Cutting Nozzle
 Nozzle provides a coherent water jet stream for optimum cutting of
low-density, soft material that is considered unmachinable by
conventional methods.
 Nozzles are normally made from synthetic sapphire.
 About 200 h of operation are expected from a nozzle, which
becomes damaged by particles of dirt and the accumulation of
mineral deposits on the orifice due to erosive water hardness.
 A longer nozzle life can be obtained through multistage filtration,
which removes undesired solids of size greater than 0.45 μm.
 The compact design of the water jet cutting head promotes
integration with motion control systems ranging from two-axis (XY)
tables to sophisticated multiaxis robotic installations.
 Catcher
 Acts as a reservoir for collecting the machining debris
entrained in the water jet.

 Moreover, it reduces the noise levels [105 decibels (dB)]

associated with the reduction in the velocity of the water jet
from Mach 3 to subsonic levels.
parameters affecting the performance of WJM
 Process Parameters
JET NOZZLE
 Standoff distance - Gap between the jet
nozzle (0.1–0.3 mm diameter) and the
workpiece (2.5 – 6 mm).
 However for materials used in printed
circuit boards, it may be increased to
13 to 19 mm.
 But larger the standoff distance,
smaller would be the depth of cut.
 When cutting fiber-reinforced plastics,
reports showed that the increase in
machining rate and use of the small
nozzle diameter increased the width of
the damaged layer.
Jet Fluid
 Typical pressures used are 150 to 1000 MPa to provide 8 to
80 kW of power.
 For a given nozzle diameter, increase in pressure allows
more power to be used in the machining process, which in
turn increases the depth of the cut.
 Jet velocities range between 540 to 1400 m/s.
 The quality of cutting improves at higher pressures by
widening the diameter of the jet and by lowering the traverse
speed.
 Under such conditions, materials of greater thicknesses and
densities can be cut.
Jet Fluid
 Moreover, the larger the pump pressure, the greater will be the
depth of the cut.
 The fluid used must possess low viscosity to minimize the
energy losses and be noncorrosive, and nontoxic.
 Water is commonly used for cutting alloy steels.
Workpiece
 Brittle materials will fracture, while ductile ones will cut
well.
 Material thicknesses range from 0.8 to 25 mm or more.
 Table below shows the cutting rates for different material
thicknesses
 Applications
 WJM is used on metals, paper, cloth, leather, rubber, plastics, food, and
ceramics.
 It is a versatile and cost-effective cutting process that can be used as an
alternative to traditional machining methods.
 It completely eliminates heat-affected zones, toxic fumes, recast layers,
work hardening and thermal stresses.
 It is the most flexible and effective cleaning solution available for a
variety of industrial needs.
 In general the cut surface has a sandblast appearance.
 Moreover, harder materials exhibit a better edge finish.
 Typical surface finishes ranges from 1.6 μm root mean square (RMS) to
very coarse depending on the application..
 Both the produced surface roughness and tolerance depend on
the machining speed
 Cutting
• WJM is limited to fibreglass and corrugated wood.
 Drilling
• The process drills precision-angled and -shaped holes in a
variety of materials for which other processes such as EDM or
EBM are too expensive or too slow.
 Machining of fiber-reinforced plastics
• The feed rate attainable depends on the surface quality required.
 Cutting of Rocks
 Deburring
• In this method burrs are broken off by the impact of water.
• Cutting of PCBS (printed circuit boards)
 Using a small-diameter water jet, a printed circuit board (PCB)
can be cut at a speed that exceeds 8 m/min, to the accuracy of 
0.13 mm.
 Boards of various shapes for use in portable radios and cassette
players can be cut using computer numerical control (CNC)
technology.
 Surface Treatment
• Removing deposits and residues without toxic chemicals, which
eliminates costly cleanup and disposal problems.
• Surface cleaning of pipes and castings, decorative finishing,
nuclear decontamination, food utensil cleaning, degreasing,
polishing, preparation for precise inspection, and surface
texturing.
• Economical surface preparation and coating removal.
• Removing corrosion, spray residue, soluble salts, chemicals, and
surface damage prior to recoating or painting.
 Wire Stripping
• Can remove the wire insulating material without damaging the
metal or removing the tinning on the copper wire.
 Abrasive Water Jet Machining
• WJM is suitable for cutting plastics, foods, rubber insulation,
automotive carpeting and headliners, and most textiles.
• The addition of abrasives to the water jet enhanced the material
removal rate and produced cutting speeds between 51 and 460 mm/min.
• Generally, AWJM cuts 10 times faster than the conventional machining
methods of composite materials.
• The introduction of compressed air to the water jet enhances the
deburring action.
 The machining system
• Water delivery
• Abrasive hopper and feeder
• Intensifier
• Filters
• Mixing chamber
• Cutting nozzles
• Catcher
 The machining system
• After the pure water jet is created, abrasives are added using
either the injection or suspension methods
 The machining system
• Water is pumped at a sufficiently high pressure, 200-400 MPa
(2000-4000 bar) using intensifier technology.
• An intensifier works on the simple principle of pressure
amplification using hydraulic cylinders of different cross-
sections.
• When water at such pressure is issued through a suitable
orifice (generally of 0.2- 0.4 mm dia), the potential energy of
water is converted into kinetic energy, yielding a high velocity
jet (1000 m/s).
• Such high velocity water jet can machine thin sheets/foils of
aluminium, leather, textile, frozen food etc.
 Advantages
 It has multidirectional cutting capacity.
 No heat is produced.
 Cuts can be started at any location without the need for
predrilled holes.
 Wetting of the workpiece material is minimal.
 There is no deflection to the rest of the workpiece.
 The burr produced is minimal.
 The tool does not wear and, therefore, does not need
sharpening.
 Advantages
 The process is environmentally safe.
 There is multiple head processing.
 Simple fixturing eliminates costly and complicated tooling,
which reduces turnaround time and lowers the cost.
 Grinding and polishing are eliminated, reducing secondary
operation costs.
 The narrow kerf allows tight nesting when multiple parts are
cut from a single blank.
 It is ideal for roughing out material for near net shape.
 Advantages
 It is ideal for laser reflective materials such as copper and
aluminum.
 It allows for more accurate cutting of soft material.
 It cuts through very thick material such as 383 mm in titanium
and 307 mm in Inconel.
 Disadvantages
• Hourly rates are relatively high.
• It is not suitable for mass production because of high
maintenance requirements.
• Very thick parts can not be cut with water jet 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.

WATER JET LAG

 Abrasive Jet Machining
• In abrasive jet machining (AJM) a focused stream of abrasive
grains of Al2O3 or SiC carried by high-pressure gas or air at a
high velocity is made to impinge on the work surface through a
nozzle of 0.3- to 0.5-mm diameter.
• The workpiece material is removed by the mechanical abrasion
(MA) action of the high-velocity abrasive particles.
• It is typically used to cut, clean, peen, deburr, deflash, and etch
glass, ceramics, or hard metals.
Machining system
 Machining system
1. Gas (nitrogen, CO2, or air) is supplied under a pressure of 2 to
8 kg/cm2.
2. After filtration and regulation, the gas is passed through a
mixing chamber that contains abrasive particles and vibrates
at 50 Hz.
3. As the abrasive particles impact the surface of the workpiece,
it causes a small fracture at the surface of the workpiece. The
material erosion occurs by the chipping action.
4. The erosion of material by chipping action is convenient in
those materials that are hard and brittle.
 Machining system
5. As the particles impact the surface of workpiece, it causes a
small fracture and wear, which is carried away by the gas
along with the abrasive particles.
6. The abrasive particles once used, cannot be re-used as its
shape changes partially and the workpiece material is also
clogged with the abrasive particles during impingement and
subsequent flushing by the carrier gas.
7. The nozzle standoff distance is 0.81 mm. The relative motion
between the workpiece and the nozzle is manually or
automatically controlled using cam drives.
 Machining system/ abrasive
• Aluminum oxide (Al2O3) and silicon carbide powders are used
for heavy cleaning, cutting, and deburring.
• Magnesium carbonate is recommended for use in light
cleaning and etching, while sodium bicarbonate is used for
fine cleaning and the cutting of soft materials.
Note:
• Oxygen should never be used because it causes a violent
chemical reaction with workpiece chips or abrasives.
• Commercial-grade powders are not suitable because their sizes
are not well classified.
 Material removal rate
The material removal rate, cut accuracy, surface roughness, and
nozzle wear are influenced by:
• Size and distance of the nozzle.
• composition, strength, size, and shape of abrasives;
• flow rate
• composition, pressure, and velocity of the carrier gas.
 Applications
1. Drilling holes, cutting slots, cleaning hard surfaces,
deburring, polishing, and radiusing
2. Machining intricate shapes or holes in sensitive, brittle, thin,
or difficult-to-machine materials.
3. Insulation stripping and wire cleaning without affecting the
conductor
4. Micro-deburring of hypodermic needles.
5. Frosting glass and trimming of circuit boards,
6. Removal of films and delicate cleaning of irregular surfaces
because the abrasive stream is able to follow contours
 Advantages
• It is best suited for machining brittle and heat-sensitive
materials like glass, quartz. Because AJM is a cool machining
process.
• Used for machining superalloys and refractory materials.
• It is not reactive with any workpiece material.
• No tool changes are required.
• Intricate parts of sharp corners can be machined.
• The machined materials do not experience hardening.
• No initial hole is required for starting the operation as required
by wire EDM.
• Material utilization is high.
• It can machine thin materials.
 Disadvantages/ Limitations
• The removal rate is slow.
• Stray cutting can’t be avoided (low accuracy of ±0.1 mm).
• The tapering effect may occur especially when drilling in
metals.
• The abrasive may get impeded in the work surface.
• Suitable dust-collecting systems should be provided.
• Soft materials can’t be machined by the process.
• Silica dust may be a health hazard.
• Ordinary shop air should be filtered to remove moisture and
oil.