Experimental Study on Surface Integrity and Kerf Characteristics During Abrasive Waterjet and Hybrid Machining of CFRP Laminates

• Published in: International journal of precision engineering and manufacturing 2020-12, Vol.21 (12), p.2209-2221
• Main Authors: Yang, Xujing, Lin, Xiangchen, Li, Maojun, Jiang, Xiaogeng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Engineering; Industrial and Production Engineering; Materials Science; Regular Paper
• ISSN: 2234-7593; 2005-4602
• DOI: 10.1007/s12541-020-00415-8

The use of abrasive waterjet to cut CFRP laminates has been proved to be feasible with several advantages compared with traditional machining methods, while relatively poor surface quality and kerf taper impede its application in automotive industry. In this work, the influence of various process parameters including hydraulic pressure, cutting speed and stand-off distance on surface integrity and kerf characteristics was comprehensively studied. A statistical model was further developed using response surface method involving 17 trials. Statistical analysis found that higher level of cutting speed led to the decrease of kerf width and the increase of surface roughness. Based on optimizing the expected function of responses, the minimum taper error of 0.058 mm and superior surface roughness (Ra) of 3.58 μm were obtained. Furthermore, hybrid machining strategy integrating AWJ and CNC milling processes was proposed to cut CFRP laminate in order to obtain both high efficiency and superior surface quality. The depth of cut for post-milling process was set down to 0.1 mm. It was found that kerf taper was completely removed with relatively flat surface, and surface roughness (Ra ~ 1.20 μm) was reduced by up to 5.61 μm with an overall decrease of about 80%.