Using the acoustic sound pressure level for quality prediction of surfaces created by abrasive waterjet

The paper deals with an innovative way of cutting materials by abrasive waterjet with a view to increase its quality. In the research work, we were concerned with the search for a relationship between surface roughness and noise in the abrasive waterjet cutting process. Innovation lies in the use of negative characteristic of the technology—noise, which is a carrier of information about the quality of cutting process. In this way, the noise can be positively used in the on-line control of the technological process. The final result is a project for control of the process of abrasive waterjet cutting of materials by means of feedback according to the on-line measurement of acoustic pressure level L _aeq (dB). Instantaneous information about the state of cut according to the instantaneous value of L _aeq amplitude allows the automatic regulation of traverse speed of cutting head v _p (mm.min^?1), which is, together with the pressure p (MPa), one of the most important technological factors of control of production technology from the point of view of economic indicators and qualitative indicators of a semiproduct. The proposed model has been experimentally verified and was simulated in Matlab.