ReviewRecent advances and challenges of abrasive jet machining
Introduction
In the 1930s, a low-pressure water jet system was patented and successfully used to cut paper [1]. Twenty years later, a high-pressure hydraulic seal from aviation industry was adopted to water jet machining, that noticeably increased the process productivity [2]. The continuous increase of working pressure in the next few decades allowed the cutting of hard alloys and carbides. On the other hand, a high pressure led to severe nozzle wear, making abrasive jet machining (AJM) economically non-competitive. From the 1970s, after ceramic nozzles were introduced, abrasive jet systems became commercially available and, within a short span of time, became the industrial mainstream and were mainly utilised for cutting and cleaning purposes. Further developments of AJM technology have been made, mainly based on material science progress and CNC conception. In the 21st century, AJM development deviated its track to technology miniaturization, wherein the nozzle diameter plunged from macro to micro scale. Today, sapphire orifice, super-hard abrasives and reliable high-pressure pumps combined with a 6-axis, precisely manage and process monitored systems, making AJM one of the most promising micro-manufacturing technologies despite the fact that it has been used for a century. In the last 20 years, there is a solid growing trend of industrial interest in micro-AJM. The obvious reflection of industrial demands can be seen in a commutative volume of research activity in the area. Since 2000, there has been an exponential growth in the number of publications displayed by Engineering village and Science Direct databases on the request: “abrasive jet machining”.
Previous articles [3], [4], [5], [6], [7] have described the recent technological state of AJM. Nevertheless, the review of Chen et al. [3] focused on polishing capabilities of AJM. Verma et al. [4] and Syazwani et al. [5] reviewed the nozzle wear in abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM) separately. Molitoris et al. [6] reported on developments of abrasive water suspension jets. Kalpana et al. [7] analyzed only the process monitoring methods. Taking this research into account, it is necessary to fill the gaps and provide a comprehensive review on the state of the art of AJM, including its technological strengths and weaknesses, analysis of AJM developments and material removal mechanism, the influence of process parameters on surface integrity, texturing capabilities and nozzle wear in abrasive air jet machining (AAJM).
The aim of this work is to fill the gaps in previous articles, by highlighting the main aspects of the technology and representing the most relevant and latest findings among experimental and theoretical investigations. Firstly, two chapters cover technological advantages, industrial applications, and diversity of AJM approach. Chapters 3–5 give a review of material removal mechanisms, process parameters influence and nozzle wear focusing on AAJM. The structure of the paper forms a general view of AJM’s current technological state and detailed assessment of AAJM. Technology problems, their potential solutions, and future prospects are discussed in the conclusion. This review does not cover the modelling of abrasive jet processes. The authors believe that the progress in particle velocity modelling, prediction of material removal rate and surface evolution are worthy of a separate review.
Section snippets
Approaches of abrasive jet machining
The variety of industrial demands for manufacturing of different parts with a specific geometry, surface roughness, and integrity led to several AJM modifications. Apart from well-known abrasive air and waterjet methods, a magnetorheological jet machining (MJM) was invented for superfinishing of precision optics. To change material removal rate (MRR), an abrasive jet can be assisted by cryogenic or high temperatures, air cavitation, etc. For other purposes, such as deep grooving, noise and
Capabilities and application
This chapter explains the AJM strengths and weaknesses, and demonstrates the diversity of manufacturing operations in different industries where AJM approaches are applied. Achievements in micromachining of regular patterns by AAJM and its application for tribological purposes are also analyzed.
Material removal mechanism
Erosion is conventionally considered as a negative phenomenon, producing damage to structures. In the conception of free abrasive machining, erosion becomes an instrument, where AJM is a manufacturing technology, which is based on erosion localization and intensification. Directed flow of hard micro-particles splits-off the tiny chips from the substrate, removing workpiece mass to required geometrical conditions. Depending on material’s properties and process parameters, ductile or brittle
Influence of process parameters
AJM process is affected by the number of settings. Some factors may contribute differently depending on the combination of other factors and materials properties. Although, several dominating tendencies can be underlined. The independent process parameters involved in AAJM were classified by Hashish [164] into two general groups and later into three groups by the Nouraei et al. [13], which are discussed below.
Wear mechanism
Like most of the other machining technologies, all AJM methods are related to the issue of tool wear. The nozzle is the most vulnerable component of any abrasive jet system. The typical working scheme of the nozzle with a mixing chamber is presented in Fig. 19 [138], [185]. High pressured energy carrier moves through the orifice to the inner chamber, where it is mixed with abrasive particles. Then, the mixture enters the nozzle tube, obtaining a directed motion and exits in a form of an
Conclusions and prospects
AJM is a progressive manufacturing method with a growing role in the satisfaction of recent and oncoming industrial demands. With that, future investigations on technology enhancements are required. The trend of AJM developments is a shift from the macro to micro scale. Further reduction of machining spot, precise erosion predictability and process controlling are current challenges in AJM.
A variety of AJM methods and developments have been analyzed. Submerged, intermittent and multi-jet
Acknowledgement
The work was supported by the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) under the Grant Number 15/RP/B3208.
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