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Anwar, Saqib (2013) Modelling of abrasive waterjet milled footprints. PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.

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Abstract

Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) cutting is one of the most promising fast emerging non-traditional cutting technologies. It is highly competitive for machining difficult-to-cut materials like ceramics, composites and titanium alloys as compared to other nonconventional processes (e.g. laser, EDM) which are either technologically inappropriate or fail to be cost-effective. However, at the moment most of the usage of the AWJ machining lies in the area of the through cutting applications and to perform controlled depth cutting (milling) is still at craftsmanship level. This is due to the facts that: (i) AWJ machining is based on employing a jet plume as a "soft body" tool, the footprint of which not only depends on the jet energy parameters (e.g. pressure, abrasive mass flow rate, etc) but also on the jet kinematic parameters (e.g. jet traverse speed) which make controlling of the jet penetration depth very difficult; (ii) there is absence of the appropriate and reliable models that can simulate and predict the AWJ milled footprints and this is one of the major obstructions constraining the use of the AWJ milling applications.

The aim of this thesis is to develop accurate models for predicting the A WJ milled footprints. The workpiece material considered is a titanium based superalloy (Ti-6Al- 4V) which is extensively used in the aerospace and medical industry. Two modelling approaches; finite element (FE) modelling and mathematical modelling are presented in this work. Considerable numbers of experiments are conducted to generate the data for validating the results from the models.

The models presented in the current study are closer to the real life conditions occurring during the A WJ machining as compared to the state of the art in modelling of AWJ machining. Regarding the FE modelling, the abrasive particles (i.e. garnet) are modeled as elastic with a tensile failure criterion with various non-spherical shapes (rhombic, triangular and trapezoidal) and sharp cutting edges in contrast to the usual approach of assuming them as rigid spherical particles. The effects of mass flow rate of the abrasive particles, traverse speed of the AWJ plume across the workpiece and Gaussian spatial distribution of the abrasive particles in the jet plume are also incorporated in the FE model. The FE model is developed to an extent that it can simulate the footprints as a result of overlapping passes of the AWJ. The simulated jet footprints from the FE models are in good agreement (maximum errors ≤ 15%) with the experimental results.

From the mathematical modelling point of view, a model is developed that can accurately predict the AWJ milled footprints with root-mean-squared errors less than 9%. The model takes into account the effects of jet incidence angles, traverse speeds and arbitrarily-moving jet-paths within the target surface. The model is computationally inexpensive and can be used for real time predictions of footprints during CNC machining.

The current study provides the reliable models that can be employed for accurate prediction of the abrasive waterjet milled footprints at various process parameters which is a necessary step towards the exploitation of the A WJ machining for controlled depth cutting applications and its automation.

Item Type:	Thesis (University of Nottingham only) (PhD)
Supervisors:	Axinte, D.A. Becker, A.A. Billingham, J.
Keywords:	Water jet cutting, Controlled depth cutting, Milling
Subjects:	T Technology > TJ Mechanical engineering and machinery
Faculties/Schools:	UK Campuses > Faculty of Engineering
Item ID:	30677
Depositing User:	Blore, Mrs Kathryn
Date Deposited:	09 Nov 2015 10:52
Last Modified:	13 Oct 2017 16:44
URI:	https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/id/eprint/30677

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