Experimental study on abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite

Carbon epoxy composite material is widely used in various technological applications. Traditional machining of this material is difficult. This paper presents research work involved in abrasive water jet machining of carbon epoxy composite material. Four process parameters, namely pressure, traverse rate, stand-off distance and abrasive mass flow rate, are considered for this study. Response surface methodology is used to design the experiments. Effect of process parameters on surface roughness is investigated on the basis of analysis of variance. Surface roughness decreases with an increase in pressure and abrasive mass flow rate and a decrease in stand-off distance and traverse rate. A mathematical model is developed to predict surface roughness on the basis of analysis. Defects including delamination, fibre pull-out and abrasive embedment are examined in machined samples. Further, optimisation of process parameters is performed in order to minimise surface roughness. Confirmation experiments are performed to verify the predictive model and optimise set of process parameters.