Investigation on performance of abrasive water jet in machining hybrid composites

For machining of composites, abrasive water jet machining is widely employed. For assembly of the machine tool structure, production of slots is essential. In this paper, abrasive water jet machining of composite laminates was experimentally investigated for various cutting parameters in terms of average surface roughness (R-a) and kerf taper (K-t). By generating a response surface model, the experimental values obtained for quality characteristics (R-a and K-t) were empirically related to cutting parameters. The effects of cutting parameters on quality characteristics were analyzed by utilizing empirical models and also optimized within the tested range based on desirability approach. The optimum parameter levels were also validated by confirmation test. From this investigation, it is evident that for obtaining a minimum kerf taper, traverse speed, water pressure, and abrasive mass flow rate are significant parameters and for obtaining less surface roughness traverse speed is the significant parameter.