Study on the process of abrasive water jet cutting for zirconia ceramic tubes

Abrasive water jet (AWJ) machining technology as a cold processing technology has the advantages of no thermal deformation, no thermal damage, and high processing flexibility. There are many researches in the field of ceramic plate processing, but little research has been done on the processing of irregular parts such as ceramic tubes. This paper presented the first proposal of using AWJ cutting zirconia ceramic tubes. The flow field characteristics of AWJ eroding tubes were analyzed by simulation, and the cutting characteristics of AWJ in two modes of radial cutting and axial cutting were studied. On this basis, the effects of jet pressure and traverse speed on kerf depth and morphology were analyzed, and the cutting mechanism of ceramic tubes by AWJ was given. The results show that the kerf depth increases with the increase of jet pressure and the decrease of traverse speed. In radial cutting mode, there is a difference in the kerf morphology between the entry and exit zone. Due to the real standoff distance and the change of processing conditions, the taper of the upper and lower kerf varied considerably in axial cutting mode. In addition, due to the influence of the vortex, a clear smooth transition zone appeared at the top of the lower kerf. In axial cutting mode, when the standoff distance is 2 mm, the jet pressure is 220 MPa, and the traverse speed is lower than 80 mm/min, both the upper and lower layers of the workpiece can be removed.