Quantitative evaluation of abrasive contamination in ductile material during abrasive water jet machining and minimising with a nozzle head oscillation technique

In the area of grit blasting, it is well known that microscopically small abrasive debris gets trapped on the surface, and due to impact this grit might cause the surface to fracture and a fraction of it to embed. The same problem appears in abrasive aqua jet machining (AAJM), especially in the so-called deformation wear zone or striation zone. An experimental study was undertaken on a commonly used ductile material, aluminium Al-Mg4, 5Mn, which is used as a base material for manufacturing most of the aircraft/aero space components. The results indicated that as the depth of cut increases the grit contamination decreases. A comparison was made between straight cutting and oscillation cutting, and it was observed that oscillation cutting is 10 times better than straight cutting for ductile material with respect to particle contamination. Alternative technology is suggested to overcome the grit contamination problem. Crown Copyright (C) 2004 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.