Cutting performance of glass-vinyl ester composite by abrasive water jet

Polymer matrix composite materials have been increasingly used in aerospace, defense, automotive and marine industries. In these fields, nontraditional machining method of abrasive water jet (AWJ) has been used significantly in order to form polymer matrix components. In this study, glass fiber reinforced vinyl ester composite plates have been investigated under various AWJ cutting parameters by using the Taguchi experimental design in detail. For Taguchi experimental design, experimental parameters of standoff distance, abrasive mass flow rate, traverse speed, pressure and material thickness were determined at three levels. Top kerf width and the surface roughness were investigated in order to understand the cutting performance. Finally, linear regression models were conducted and all performance parameters were examined using analysis of variance (ANOVA) and main effects plots. According to the overall test results, standoff distance was determined as the most effective one. The optimal parameter levels were obtained by the ‘main effects plots’, and finally, the predictive modeling was validated by performing the optimal combination of parameter levels.     

Review on the machining characteristics and research prospects of conventional microscale machining operations

The concept of miniaturizing machine tools has received a strong interest in the research community due to their ability to fabricate intricate components. Lower power consumption, higher productivity rate, and smaller sizes of work stations have enabled microscale machining operations to acquire an edge over other fabrication techniques in various applications such as aerospace, instrumentation, automotive, biomedical, etc. The literature is filled with works done by researchers working in this domain. A significant contribution comes from the works which have been published during the period 1998–2014. The focus of these studies has primarily been on conventional and nonconventional micromachining techniques. Since nonconventional machining operations such as microelectrical discharge machining, laser machining, etc., are not compatible with traditional workpiece materials, conventional micromachining techniques such as micromilling and microdrilling are generally used. However, as of today, there has been no revision on the state of the-art in this field to serve as a reference for the experienced researcher and as a handbook for the newcomer. In this review, we have attempted to summarize the current state of understanding on this topic. A variety of issues which are representative of micromachining operations are critically analyzed and presented. Conventional micromachining operations have been compared with their nonconventional counterparts with respect to performance characteristics such as burr formation, surface integrity, etc., and their advantages and shortcomings have been listed. Meticulous efforts have been taken to address the key challenges faced in typical micromachining operations. Taking the convenience of the reader into consideration, we have presented a bird's-eye view of the various micromachining operations and simulation studies as performed in the last decade. In the last few years, diamond turning operations have gained more importance and are particularly used for machining composite materials and superalloys. This paper gives an insight into these operations apart from providing an outlook for future growth and development of micromachining technology.     

Numerical optimization of hole making in GFRP composite using abrasive water jet machining process

Machining of composite materials for the production of bolt holes is essential in the assembly of the structural frames in many industrial applications of glass fiber-reinforced plastic (GFRP). Abrasive water jet cutting technology has been used in industry for such purposes. This technology has procured many overlapping applications and as the life of the joint in the assembled structure can be critically affected by the quality of the holes, so it is important for the industry to understand the application of the abrasive water jet cutting process on GFRP composite materials. The aim of the present work is to assess the influence of abrasive water jet machining parameters on the hole making process of woven-laminated GFRP material and to find the optimum values of the process parameters. Statistical approach was used to understand the effects of the predicted variables on the response variables. Analysis of variance was performed to isolate the effects of the parameters affecting the hole making in abrasive water jet cutting. The results show that the optimum values of cutting feed, fiber density, water jet pressure, standoff distance, and abrasive flow rate upon the response variables are 0.3 m/min, 0.82 g/cm³, 150 MPa, 2 mm, and 100 g/min, respectively.     

Effect of abrasive jet process parameters on machining glass fibre reinforced polymer composite

An experimental and theoretical research work on abrasive jet machining of glass fiber reinforced polymer composite materials was conducted using abrasive jet machining setup fabricated in our workshop. The objective of this research work is to machine holes on the glass fiber reinforced polymer composite using an abrasive jet machine under various levels of process parameter. The material removal rate and hole geometry (kerf analysis) were observed as a part of the investigation. Four factors five levels central composite rotatable design matrix was used for optimizing the required number of experiments. The objective of the present investigation is to develop mathematical models using the response surface methodology. The adequacy of the models has been checked using the ANOVA technique. Use of the developed mathematical models, material removal rate and hole geometry of the machined glass fibre reinforced polymer composite helps prediction at 95% confidence level.     

Surface texturing on SiC by multiphase jet machining with microdiamond abrasives

The multiphase microabrasive jet machining is a new type of surface texturing technique using compressed air to accelerate the mixtures of abrasive and water to remove material. It is effective for surface texturing on different materials, and can also reduce the pollution and cost by recycling the microabrasive particles easily. Basing on this technique and using the micro synthetic diamond as the abrasive, a multiphase jet technique is developed for machining on silicon carbide (SiC) surfaces. The processing results are compared to other abrasives, and influences of the processing parameters such as jet distance, jet pressure, abrasive concentration, particle size, and jet angle are investigated experimentally. The improvement on machining quality and efficiency are confirmed.     

Investigating the effect of machining processes on the mechanical behavior of composite plates with circular holes

The influence of the machining quality on the mechanical behavior of CFRP composites is yet not fully understood. There are only few works in the literature that have investigated the effect of the machining quality on CFRP. In fact, most of these works focus only on conventional machining such as axial or orbital drilling. The aim of this paper is to examine the influence of two machining processes namely conventional machining (CM) and abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) on the mechanical behavior of composite plates under cyclic loading. For this purpose, an experimental study using several composite plates drilled with a cutting tool and an abrasive water jet machining was carried out. In order to study the impact of the process of machining on the mechanical behavior, thermographic infrared testing and fatigue cyclic tests were performed to assess temperature evolutions, stiffness degradation, and the damage evolution in these plates. Fatigue testing results have shown that the damage accumulation in specimens drilled with CM process was higher than the AWJM specimens. Furthermore, the endurance limit for a composite plate drilled with CM was approximately 10% inferior compared to specimens drilled with AWJM. This difference can be related to the initial surface integrity after machining induced by the difference in the mechanism of material’s removal between the two processes used.     

金属材料水导激光加工实验研究

金属材料的激光加工目前正向着低表面粗糙度、小热影响区及大深径比结构的趋势发展。新近发展了一种基于激光-水射流耦合原理的水导激光加工技术,本文阐述了水导激光加工技术的基本原理及其相对于传统激光加工方法的优势,基于激光-水射流耦合原理构建了一套水导激光加工设备,对多种金属材料进行了水导激光加工实验。利用超景深显微镜对加工工件表面进行了观测与分析,发现两种金属材料加工得到的盲孔边缘规则圆滑,切槽的边缘平直无毛刺,没有热影响区。实验结果说明对金属材料的水导激光精密加工具有可行性且有重要的应用价值。     

Multi-performance optimization of abrasive water jet machining of Inconel 617 using WPCA

Inconel 617 is a hard-to-machine material used for various high-temperature components like headers, pipes and turbine blades in ultra-supercritical power plants. This material necessitates nontraditional machining methods. The processing of these alloys using abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) needs attention. This paper details the multi-response optimization in the AWJM of Inconel 617 using weighted principal components analysis (WPCA). The significant process parameters are water pressure, abrasive flow volume, standoff distance and table feed. The performance characteristics are material removal rate (MRR), circularity, cylindricity, perpendicularity and parallelism. Multi-performance optimization is performed using the weighted principal component analysis method. Mean response tables are developed and plotted and the optimal factor levels for the best values of the objectives are reported. The developed technique shows flexibility as different responses with different weightages based on the product application could be tested and established.     

Investigation on performance of abrasive water jet in machining hybrid composites

For machining of composites, abrasive water jet machining is widely employed. For assembly of the machine tool structure, production of slots is essential. In this paper, abrasive water jet machining of composite laminates was experimentally investigated for various cutting parameters in terms of average surface roughness (R_a) and kerf taper (K_t). By generating a response surface model, the experimental values obtained for quality characteristics (R_a and K_t) were empirically related to cutting parameters. The effects of cutting parameters on quality characteristics were analyzed by utilizing empirical models and also optimized within the tested range based on desirability approach. The optimum parameter levels were also validated by confirmation test. From this investigation, it is evident that for obtaining a minimum kerf taper, traverse speed, water pressure, and abrasive mass flow rate are significant parameters and for obtaining less surface roughness traverse speed is the significant parameter.     

Machining MMC engineering components with polycrystalline diamond and diamond grinding

Abstract

The high specific strength of metal matrix composite (MMC) materials is derived from the combined effects of light, ductile and hard, brittle materials being incorporated in a matrix composite. The hard, brittle phase in this composite can cause problems when machining such materials. The most commonly encountered problems are those involved in producing an acceptable surface finish, avoiding very rapid tool wear and achieving acceptable machining costs, through the use of higher machining speeds. However, in order for MMC materials to be widely accepted into the mainstream automotive, aerospace, and mechanical engineering industries, cost effective machining solutions will be required. Increasingly, machining with polycrystalline diamond (PCD) and grinding with diamond abrasives (two examples of ultra hard materials) are being utilised as the most effective machining methods in the manufacture of MMC components. The present paper explores the inherent problems involved in the machining of MMCs and the suitability of ultrahard tooling technology in overcoming many of these problems. The importance of PCD grade selection and optimised machining conditions are particularly important when machining MMCs, and these are reviewed in detail. The versatility of PCD for use in practically all metal cutting operations is also illustrated. The paper concludes with a number of case studies demonstrating how ultrahard tooling technology has been applied to produce economically a wide range of engineered MMC components in the automotive, aerospace, and mechanical engineering industries.     

Study the parametric effect of abrasive water jet machining on surface roughness of Inconel 718 using RSM-BBD techniques

This paper presents an experimental investigation to ascertain the parametric impact of abrasive water jet machining on the surface quality of Inconel 718 material. Experiments were designed according to response surface methodology-box Behnken design by maintaining three levels of four process parameters—abrasive flow rate, water pressure, stand-off distance and traverse speed. The surface irregularity is measured during machining. The design expert software was used to establish an optimized mathematical model of process parameters for achieving the required surface roughness. Desirability function has also been used to optimize the process parameters. The confirmation experiments validate the reliability and capability of the developed model. Further, the surface characteristics were analyzed through scanning electron microscope images and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy.     

Processing issues,machining, and applications of aluminum metal matrix composites

Aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMCs) used in different industries from automotive to aerospace for specific purposes. Many problems hinder the full-scale industrialization of AMMCs but the main problems include wettability, particle distribution, porosity, and chemical reaction. These problems have explicit effects on mechanical, wear, and corrosion resistance properties of the composite materials. Therefore, it is essential to cope up with these problems for better quality of AMMCs. This paper focuses on issues related to AMMCs fabrication, corrosion resistance, wear resistance, machining parameter optimization, and chip analysis of AMMCs. Literature provides a guideline to researchers about present scenario of AMMC fabrication using stir casting process. Moreover, paper presents properties and applications of AMMCs.     

A review on conventional and nonconventional machining of SiC particle-reinforced aluminium matrix composites

Among the various types of metal matrix composites, SiC particle-reinforced aluminum matrix composites (SiC_p/Al) are finding increasing applications in many industrial fields such as aerospace, automotive, and electronics. However, SiC_p/Al composites are considered as difficult-to-cut materials due to the hard ceramic reinforcement, which causes severe machinability degradation by increasing cutting tool wear, cutting force, etc. To improve the machinability of SiC_p/Al composites, many techniques including conventional and nonconventional machining processes have been employed. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the machining performance of SiC p/Al composites using conventional machining, i.e., turning, milling, drilling, and grinding, and using nonconventional machining, namely electrical discharge machining (EDM), powder mixed EDM, wire EDM, electrochemical machining, and newly developed high-efficiency machining technologies, e.g., blasting erosion arc machining. This research not only presents an overview of the machining aspects of SiC_p/Al composites using various processing technologies but also establishes optimization parameters as reference of industry applications.The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-020-00313-2     

Machinablity of Hybrid Natural Fiber Composite with and without Filler as Reinforcement

The filler materials are reinforced along with natural fibers in the composite to improve the quality and property of the component materials based on the requirements and its applications. In this paper, hybrid natural fiber composites were developed with and without filler materials as reinforcement. The developed hybrid natural fiber composites are machined using abrasive water jet cutting process with three different cutting parameters. The influences of cutting parameters are evaluated with respect to the kerf wall inclination, material removal rate, and surface roughness. The surface morphology was also studied to infer the basic mechanism involved during composite machining. The hybrid fiber composite with filler has proved that it can produce good engineering component without delamination and fiber pullouts during machining.     

An Analytical Model for Material Removal in Abrasive Jet Machining for Brittle Materials

Optical microscopy has indicated that the abrasive particles used in abrasive jet machining have sharp edges with the shapes similar to cone or pyramid. Moreover, microscopic examination of cross section of work samples eroded by AJM shows that, for brittle materials, material removal is due to intersection and propagation of cracks produced by adjacent impacting particles on target surface. An analytical model has been developed based on the above observations for predicting the material removal in abrasive jet machining process. The model also suggests the critical value of mass flow rate which has been substantiated experimentally. In addition, the influence of velocity and mass flow rate of abrasive particles on material removal rate is briefly described.     

磨料水射流对脆性材料的冲蚀研究

磨料水射流技术作为一种特种加工技术，具有无刀具接触、无热影响区和加工范围广等优势，在众多领域得到应用。为了探究磨料水射流对脆性材料的冲蚀效果，构建和设计了磨料水射流外流场冲蚀仿真模型与磨料水射流冲蚀实验。以30 mm×50 mm的喷嘴外流场域为计算域，建立磨料水射流冲蚀仿真模型，并分析射流冲蚀过程中压力分布、水与磨料的速度分布及它们在射流中心线上的衰减规律。通过对氧化铝陶瓷材料的冲蚀实验，分析工艺参数对冲蚀孔径的影响，并结合仿真结果对比分析了射流束宽度与冲蚀孔径的关系。结果表明：水的速度随着喷嘴距离的增大而减小且分布范围变宽，射流宽度呈线性增大，磨料速度随喷嘴距离的增大而减小且分布范围基本不变；射流中心线上水的速度与磨料速度呈三段式衰减，水的第1段速度衰减段长度比磨料的长，但水的第2段速度衰减段长度比磨料的短；射流束能量的有效利用部分逐渐减小，但在15~25 mm的靶距范围内其有效利用部分较稳定，为40%；冲蚀孔径随喷嘴距离增大呈线性增大。研究结果为磨料水射流切割、铣削及抛光加工的参数选择提供实验依据，同时为磨料水射流加工过程仿真提供参考。     

Investigation on the cutting quality characteristics of abrasive water jet machining of AA6061-B4C-hBN hybrid metal matrix composites

Aluminum metal matrix composites (AMMCs) explicitly show better physical and mechanical properties as compared to aluminum alloys and results in a more preferred material for a wide range of applications. The addition of reinforcements embargo AMMCs employment to industry requirements by increasing order of machining complexity. However, it can be machined with a high order of surface integrity by nonconventional approaches like abrasive water jet machining. Hybrid aluminum alloy composites were reinforced by B₄C (5–15?vol%) and solid lubricant hBN (15?vol%) particles and fabricated using a liquid metallurgy route. This research article deals with the experimental investigation on the effect of process parameters such as mesh size, abrasive flow rate, water pressure and work traverse speed of abrasive water jet machining on hybrid AA6061-B₄C-hBN composites. Water jet pressure and traverse speed have been proved to be the most significant parameters which influenced the responses like kerf taper angle and surface roughness. Increase in reinforcement particles affects both the kerf taper angle and surface roughness. SEM images of the machined surface show that cutting wear mechanism was largely operating in material removal.     

Prediction model for determining the optimum operational parameters in laser forming of fiber-reinforced composites

Composite materials are widely employed in various industries, such as aerospace, automobile, and sports equipment, owing to their lightweight and strong structure in comparison with conventional materials. Laser material processing is a rapid technique for performing the various processes on composite materials. In particular, laser forming is a flexible and reliable approach for shaping fiber-metal laminates (FMLs), which are widely used in the aerospace industry due to several advantages, such as high strength and light weight. In this study, a prediction model was developed for determining the optimal laser parameters (power and speed) when forming FML composites. Artificial neural networks (ANNs) were applied to estimate the process outputs (temperature and bending angle) as a result of the modeling process. For this purpose, several ANN models were developed using various strategies. Finally, the achieved results demonstrated the advantage of the models for predicting the optimal operational parameters.The full text can be downloaded at https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40436-020-00304-3     

高分子基功能复合材料的熔融沉积成型研究进展

3D打印又称增材制造技术,是基于材料、机械控制、计算机软件等多学科交叉的先进制造技术,可得到传统加工不能制备的形状复杂制件。熔融沉积成型(FDM)是目前最通用的3D打印技术之一,具有设备简单、成本低、操作便捷等特点,广泛应用于航空航天、医疗、汽车工业等领域。本文介绍了国内外3D打印技术的整体布局、发展和规划,总结了常见3D打印技术的特点和分类。系统地介绍了FDM加工技术的原理和优势,阐明了 FDM加工对高分子材料的基本要求,介绍了碳基高分子复合材料在FDM加工中的应用。此外,详细综述了国内外基于FDM打印技术制造功能化高分子复合材料及器件的最新研究进展,其中包括FDM打印制造导电高分子复合材料、导热高分子复合材料及生物医用高分子复合材料等,以期为FDM制造高性能多功能高分子复合材料的研究及应用提供借鉴。并对FDM加工面临的挑战及需要解决的关键问题提出了思考并做出展望。      

Investigation of multiple process parameters in abrasive water jet machining of tiles

This paper discusses the optimization of an abrasive water jet machining process with multiple characteristics, using the Taguchi orthogonal array and grey relational analysis (GRA). The machining process variables, such as mesh size, nozzle diameter, abrasive flow rate, water pressure, stand-off distance, and feed rate, were optimized with respect to multiple performance characteristics, namely, the surface roughness and the kerf angle. Experiments were performed using an L₁₈ orthogonal array, and the optimum machining process variables were determined, using GRA. Analysis of variance was used to identify the most significant factor in the machining performance. A confirmatory test was performed to verify the improvement of the performance characteristics. The microstructure of the machined surfaces was also examined by scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The results showed that the surface roughness and kerf angle were minimized under optimal machining conditions.