Parameter Optimization and Effect Analysis of Low-Pressure Abrasive Water Jet (LPAWJ) for Paint Removal of Remanufacturing Cleaning

Sheng Xiong,Shuangshuang Wu,Xiujie Jia,Xing Wang,Mingliang Ma,Fangyi Li

doi:10.3390/su13052900

Abstract

As an environmentally friendly method, water jet (WJ) technology plays a significant role in the field of remanufacturing cleaning. The cleaning capacity of a WJ is severely restricted by the water pressure, while the impact force will be too large and may damage the cleaned substrate as well as cause energy waste if the pressure is too high. However, by adding abrasives, the cleaning capacity of a low-pressure water jet (LPWJ) will be considerably improved. Although abrasive water jet (AWJ) technology has been used in mechanical machining for decades, very limited research work can be found in the literature for remanufacturing cleaning. In this paper, the role of abrasives in low-pressure abrasive water jet (LPAWJ) cleaning was described. Cleaning performance with different parameters (abrasive feed rate condition, water pressure and standoff distance) in paint removal was experimentally investigated by using the Taguchi design of experiment. The experimental results indicated that the water pressure was the most dominant factor and the optimal parameter combination was the second feed rate condition, 9 MPa water pressure and 300 mm standoff distance. The influence law between the cleaning performance and various factors was explored, which can provide remanufacturers with directions in selection of the optimal parameters in the LPAWJ cleaning process. By designing contrast experiments, the results showed that the cleaning capacity of an LPAWJ is better than that of a pure LPWJ and the residual effect in terms of changes in surface roughness, residual stress and morphology is a little larger.

Highlights

Large amounts of end-of-life products scrapped directly have led to excessive waste of resources over recent years, which can be significantly improved by remanufacturing [1,2,3].Remanufacturing is an industrial process whereby used products can be restored to useful life [4], including design [5], disassembly [6], cleaning [7], inspection [8], reconditioning [9], etc., among which cleaning is a essential procedure because the cleanliness of cleaned substrate has a significant influence on the following procedures
In order to completely demonstrate the cleaning capacity of the jet and the effect caused on the substrate, the position of the specimen was fixed during the cleaning process and the injection angle was set as 90 degrees
In the lowpressure abrasive water jet (LPAWJ) cleaning experiment, the abrasive feed rate condition was set at the second level, which was the only different parameter between the two controlled experiments

Summary

Introduction

Remanufacturing is an industrial process whereby used products can be restored to useful life [4], including design [5], disassembly [6], cleaning [7], inspection [8], reconditioning [9], etc., among which cleaning is a essential procedure because the cleanliness of cleaned substrate has a significant influence on the following procedures. The ideal state of remanufacturing cleaning is to remove all the contaminants on the surface without affecting the substrate [10]. The components of the surface contaminants are complicated, mainly including dust, sludge, rust, carbon deposition, paint, etc., among which paint is the closest layer to the substrate, which makes paint removal in condition of having as little effect on the substrate as possible a significant problem [11]. As an improved alternative to conventional WJ cleaning technology, abrasive water jet (AWJ)

Methods

Results

Conclusion