Parametric analysis and optimization of glass fibre reinforced plastic composite and aluminium 7075 alloy by abrasive water jet machining

Abstract

Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) is one of the most important unconventional machining processes; it plays a crucial role in cutting of many varieties of materials like alloys, ceramics and composites owing to its superior material removal characteristics. It also eliminates the heat affected zone in the material to be machined and development of chip through cutting was diminished. The unique feature of no thermal deformation, high versatility of machining, high flexibility and reduced cutting forces attracts the researchers. The need for sophisticated machining systems such as AWJM is inevitable in the field of automobile, marine, aerospace and chemical industries to make intricate shape parts. AWJM utilizes the water and abrasive blend as material removal medium and does not utilize any tool and the material elimination is done by erosion mechanism on workpiece material. Currently the usage of composite becomes popular as a result of its superior mechanical characteristics like low density, good strength, corrosion resistance and stiffness. In this study, Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GFRP) composite and Aluminium 7075 alloy were selected as workpiece material and garnet was opted as abrasive material. AWJ machining parameters like waterjet pressure, traverse speed and standoff distance were varied at three levels. The surface roughness and taper angle were measured as responses. The experimental layout was designed based on Response Surface Methodology (RSM) design of experiments. The most influencing machining parameter which affects the output responses were determined using ANOVA. newline