Titanium Alloy Milling Using Abrasive Water Jet for Repair Application: Modifications in Surface Quality and Material Integrity Following Plain Water Jet Cleaning

Abstract

Abrasive Water Jet (AWJ) machining has proven to be an effective and versatile technique for milling various kinds of materials, even with low machinability such as aerospace grade titanium alloy Ti6Al4V. Many studies have been performed in order to master this technology and produce geometrically accurate shapes. However, in the context of bonding repairs which require surfaces free from foreign bodies, AWJ machining presents a significant drawback in form of abrasive grit embedment. The goal of this present work is then to investigate the effect of a post-AWJ machining cleaning operation using Plain Water Jet process (PWJ – i.e. without abrasive particles) on the surface quality and material properties. For this, several characterization techniques were employed. It was concluded that the contamination has been reduced by 65% without noticeable changes in depth of cut and crater volume. The AWJ milling operation produced surface and subsurface hardening as well as biaxial compressive residual stress, mostly piloted by the jet pressure. PWJ cleaning reduced the depth of hardening without clear modification in surface hardness.