An Investigation of Surface Quality Cut by Abrasive Water Jet

As abrasive water jet (AWJ) starts to be used in industry, especially in aerospace and automotive industries extensively, getting high quality surface has become a major requirement. Being a promising non-traditional cutting process, AWJ is holding several deficiencies, which limits its extensive applications dramatically. One of the deficiencies is striation marks presented on AWJ cutting surface. This paper investigated the triation formation mechanism systematically. This investigation leads to a conclusion that, striation can not be eliminated completely, however, by selecting proper paramters, smooth cutting surface can be achieved. Based on that conclusion, all parameters which might affect surface roughness have been explored, and an empirical model has been built and tested. With this empirical model, predicting surface quality becomes feasible and practical.