Erosion field characteristics of depth-control micro-hole profiles machined by abrasive waterjet based on FSI coupling

The erosion footprint profiles of abrasive waterjet (AWJ) mainly depend on the jet-plume's capabilities, erosion angles, and the machined workpiece's physical properties. Therefore, the result profiles obtained by successfully simulating AWJ processing are attributed to the accurate erosion field characteristics. In this article, an attempt has been made to develop a fluid-structure interface (FSI) coupling model to simulate the AWJ micro-hole erosion profiles on the workpiece over a range of water pressure, stand-off-distance, abrasive flow rate, and different impingement angles. A quarter of the 3-dimensional erosion model was proposed, which could efficiently and qualitatively simulate AWJ drilling footprint profiles without consuming much storage space and computation time. Firstly, the formation process of erosion field was described, the stagnation zone under different erosion field conditions was discussed, and the differential characteristics of the AWJ erosion field were obtained. Then, the FSI results were verified by comparing the simulated profiles with the corresponding experimental data. Ti6Al4V was adopted as the simulation workpiece material, which has remarkable comprehensive mechanical properties such as high-specific strength, light density, low thermal conductivity, and was widely used in aerospace fields. It turned out that the FSI model intuitively reflects the characteristics of the erosion field on the workpiece and the influence of different parameters on the erosion footprint profiles. The simulated footprints profiles obtained were shown in good agreement with experimental data, and the maximum error was below 14%. The simulation result of this research was of great significance for future in-depth exploration of erosion field characteristics and practical guidance.