tailieunhanh - An introduction to abrasive waterjet ( AWJ ) machining

This paper introduces about AWJ system as well as about AWJ process parameters. Also, advantages and limitations of this type of machining are given. | T¹p chÝ Khoa häc & C«ng nghÖ - Sè 4(44)/N¨m 2007 – Tæng quan th«ng tin trao ®æi An introduction to Abrasive Waterjet (AWJ) machining Vu Ngoc Pi (Laboratory of Precision Manufacturing and Assembly, Delft University of Technology) Introduction AWJ machining is a recent unconventional machining process. It has been developed from Waterjet machining. The earliest use of the water beam in coal mining was in the former Soviet Union and New Zealand [1]. This mining technique was also used for removing blasted rocks from working areas into collection drifts or tunnels. From 1853 to 1886, pressurized water was used for excavating soft gold rocks. The pressurized water for coal mining was also used in Prussia in the early 1900s and then in Russia in the 1930s [1]. In 1936, Peter Tupitsyn, who was working for the Donetsk Coal Basin in Ukraine, proposed the idea of using waterjet beam to cut boreholes in the coal bed [2]. In the 1950s, Dr. Norman Franz, a forestry engineer, was the first who studied the use of a waterjet beam as a cutting tool for wood processing [3]. However, the first patent of a waterjet cutting system was granted for the staff of McCartney Manufacturing Company, a division of the Ingersoll-Rand Corp. [4]. In 1971, the first commercial waterjet machine was introduced into the market by this company [4]. In 1979, Dr. Mohamed Hashish, who was worked for Flow International Cooperation, invented the abrasive waterjet cutting method by adding abrasives into the pure waterjet [3]. Soon after this, in 1980, abrasive waterjet was first used to cut glass, steel, and concrete [3]. The invention of AWJ led to a huge expansion of applications of cutting with high-pressure water. Since then, AWJ has been widely used in various industries such as cutting of a wide variety of sheet materials, cleaning of contaminated surfaces, polishing of hard-to-machine materials, etc. This paper introduces about AWJ system as well as about AWJ process parameters. Also, advantages and