Abstract
This paper analyses the effect of the abrasive waterjet cutting parameters’ modification on the condition of the workpiece surface layer. The post-machined surface of casting aluminium alloys, AlSi10Mg and AlSi21CuNi, was characterised in terms of surface roughness and irregularities, chamfering, and microhardness in order to reveal the effect that variable jet feed rate, abrasive flow rate, and sample height (thickness of the cut material) have on the quality of surface finish. From the analysis of the results, it emerges that the surface roughness remains largely unaffected by changes in the sample height h or the abrasive flow rate ma, whereas it is highly susceptible to the increase in the jet feed rate vf. It has been shown that, in principle, the machining does not produce the strengthening effect, that is, an increase in microhardness. Owing to the irregularities that are typically found on the workpieces cut with higher jet feed rates vf, additional surface finish operations may prove necessary. In addition, chamfering was found to occur throughout the entire range of speeds vf. The statistical significance of individual variables on the 2D surface roughness parameters, Ra/Rz/RSm, was determined using factorial analysis of variance (ANOVA). The results were verified by means of artificial neural network (ANN) modelling (radial basis function and multi-layered perceptron), which was employed to predict the surface roughness parameters under consideration. The obtained correlation coefficients show that ANNs exhibit satisfying predictive capacity, and are thus a suitable tool for the prediction of surface roughness parameters in abrasive waterjet (AWJ) technology.
Highlights
State of the ArtMachine components and semi-finished products are manufactured using a range of methods and types of machining operations
The condition of the surface was first assessed from the perspective of the effect that variables vf, h, and ma have on selected parameters of surface roughness
For abrasive water jet machining (AWJ) cutting executed at a lower abrasive flow setting, the lowest values were recorded in samples h = 12 mm, in the range of vf = 5–20 mm/min, whereas at a deeper cut, h = 46 mm, in the range of vf = 60–100 mm/min
Summary
Machine components and semi-finished products are manufactured using a range of methods and types of machining operations. The 21st century manufacturing industries employ modern and cutting-edge machining techniques, including precision casting, plastic forming (die forging, cross-wedge rolling) [1], or high-speed milling (roughing, finishing, precision cutting) [2,3,4]. Often, the preparation of pre-products for subsequent processing involves abrasive water jet machining (AWJ)—one of the most dynamically developing technologies of modern manufacturing. AWJ machining is one of the most promising, non-conventional methods for shaping various types of structural materials, which is in a number of ways distinctly superior to other cutting methods [5]. Its advantages include high versatility with respect to the material being cut—it copes with virtually any metal/non-metal substrate except
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