Comparative study of jetting machining technologies over laser machining technology for cutting composite materials

Abstract

There has been a great interest for improving the machining of composite materials in the aerospace and other industries. This paper focuses on the comparative study of jetting techniques and laser machining technics. This paper concentrates on the machining of composite materials like epoxy pre-impregnated graphite woven fabric and fibre reinforced plastic materials that are used in aerospace industries. While considering machining these materials with the traditional machining there are many disadvantages projected. One of these advantages is that all the traditional machining processes involve the dissipation of heat into the workpiece. This serious shortcoming has been dealt by the jetting technologies, which, contrary to the traditional machining, operate under cold conditions. The two methods in the jetting technologies used for processing materials are water jet machining and abrasive water jet machining. The first of these, water jet machining, has been around for the past 20 years and has paved the way for abrasive water jet technology. Water jet machining and abrasive water jet machining have been used for processing composite materials because of the advantages offered by this technologies as compared to traditional techniques of processing. The high surface and structural integrity required of any technique used for processing composite materials has created an opportunity for abrasive water jet machining. Cutting of composites using laser is also an option, and experiments were also conducted to reveal the extent of using laser technique.