Experimental modeling of abrasive water-jet cutting processes of Kevlar fiber-reinforced polymer composites

Abstract

In recent decades, the use of composite materials has spread widely in a variety of industries, from consumer goods to aeronautics and automotive. This trend is mainly explained by the functional properties of these materials, such as specific strength or specific stiffness, which make them suitable for structural applications.Kevlar fiber-reinforced polymer composites are difficult to process using conventional methods, so non-traditional ones, like abrasive water jet machining became an alternative. This process has some advantages, such as the ability to cut complicated shape parts of different size and thickness, with high precision. However, the selection of operating parameters to provide a complete database, tailored to carry out efficient and effective processes, remains a challenge.Due to the complexity of the phenomena in the workspace, analytical modeling of the process is difficult and has limited validity by the simplified hypotheses formulated previously. On the contrary, the models developed following empirical research have proved their importance in industrial practice, leading to the estimation of processing results, with high confidence levels.Therefore, the experimental study was performed by applying design of experiments methods, in order to test the influence and to model the action of process parameters on the material removal rate of abrasive water jet cutting. The research also focused on the precision characteristics of the cut parts. Finally, the response surfaces and contour plots were represented, useful for identifying the sets of the process parameters that provide the required values for the objective functions investigated.