Investigation of surface mophology and integrity in multi axis abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM)

Abrasive particle embedment leads to surface issues in AWJM, which may require further surface treatment, delamination in composites and decrease in fatigue life of metals are major consequences. In this paper, abrasive particle embedment and morphological effects after AWJM of Al6061-T6 are investigated experimentally. It is observed that increase in feed rate, lead and tilt angles reduces waviness. It is also seen that distance between two valleys in cross feed direction is equal to two times step length if step length is given lower than nozzle diameter. It is found that embedded grits are much lower than the average abrasive sizes. Exothermic reaction was seen in some experiments, resulting in melt pools as observed in SEM and EDX.