PRINCIPLE OF THE PROCESS

ABRASIVE JET In Abrasive Jet Machining



(AJM), abrasive particles are

made to impinge on the work
MACHINING (AJM) material at a high velocity.
The jet of abrasive particles
is carried by carrier gas or
air.
 The high velocity stream of
abrasive is generated by
converting the pressure
energy of the carrier gas or
air to its kinetic energy and
hence high velocity jet.
 The nozzle directs the
abrasive jet in a controlled
manner onto the work
material, so that the distance
between the nozzle and the
work piece and the
impingement angle can be
set desirably.
 The high velocity abrasive
particles remove the material
by micro-cutting action as
well as brittle fracture of the
work material.
PRINCIPLE (contd..)
 In AJM, generally, the abrasive particles of around 50 μm grit
size would impinge on the work material at velocity of 200 m/s
from a nozzle of I.D. of 0.5 mm with a stand off distance of
around 2 mm. The kinetic energy of the abrasive particles
would be sufficient to provide material removal due to brittle
fracture of the work piece or even micro cutting by the
abrasives.
EQUIPMENT USED

 GAS PROPULSION SYSTEM

 In AJM, air is compressed in an air compressor and compressed air at a pressure of
around 5 bar is used as the carrier gas as shown in Figure. Gases like CO 2, N2, can also
be used as carrier gas which may directly be issued from a gas cylinder.

 The carrier gas is first passed through a pressure regulator to obtain the desired
working pressure. The gas is then passed through an air dryer to remove any residual
water vapour. To remove any oil vapour or particulate contaminant the same is passed
through a series of filters. Then the carrier gas enters a closed chamber called mixing
chamber
EQUIPMENT USED

 MIXING CHAMBER
 The required quantity of abrasive particles is supplied by abrasive feeder.
 In this, the abrasive particles enter the mixing chamber from a hopper
through a metallic sieve.
 The sieve is constantly vibrated by an electromagnetic shaker. The mass flow
rate of abrasive (15 gm/min) entering the chamber depends on the amplitude
of vibration of the sieve and its frequency.
 The abrasive particles are propelled by carrier gas and the mixture moves
further to the machining chamber via an electro magnetic valve.
EQUIPMENT USED

 MACHINING CHAMBER
 In the machining chamber, the mixture moves to the nozzle. The nozzle
imparts high velocity to the mixture which is directed at the workpiece
surface.
 Material removal occurs due to the erosive action of the jet of air-abrasive
miixture impinging on the workpiece surface.
 The mcahining chamber is well closed so that the concentration of the abrasive
particle around the working chamber does not reach to the harmful limit.
 Machining chamber is equipped with a vacuum dust collector.
AJM NOZZLE

NOZZLE:
 The AJM nozzle is usually made of tungsten carbide or
sapphire which has high resistance to wear.
 The nozzle is made of either circular or rectangular cross
section. It is so designed that a loss of pressure due to bends,
friction etc is minimum possible.
 The nozzle pressure is generally maintained between 2-
8.5kgf/cm2. Its value depends upon the material of workpiece
and desired characteristics of the machined surface.
 With an increase in the wear of a nozzle, the divergence of the
jet stream increases resulting in more stray cutting and high
inaccuracy.
ABRASIVES

ABRASIVES:
 Aluminium oxide, silicon carbide, glass beads, crushed glass
and sodium bicarbonate are some of the abrasives used in AJM.
 Selection of abrasive depends upon the type of work material,
material removal rate(MRR) and machining accuracy desired.
 Alumina is good for cleaning, cutting and deburring while SiC is
also used for the similar applications but for harder work
materials. For obtaining matte finish, glass beads are good
while crushed glass cutting of soft materials are better
performed by sodium bicarbonate.
 The smaller sizes of particles are used for cleaning and
polishing while large particles perform better during cutting.
Fine grains are less irregular in shape, hence their cutting
ability is poor.
 The abrasives should have sharp and irregular shape, and be
fine enough to remain suspended in the carrier gas.
PROCESS PARAMETERS
 The process parameters are listed below:

• Abrasive
Material – Al2O3 / SiC / glass beads
Shape – irregular / spherical
Size – 10 ~ 50 μm
Mass flow rate – 2 ~ 20 gm/min
• Carrier gas
Composition – Air, CO2, N2
Density – Air ~ 1.3 kg/m3
Velocity – 500 ~ 700 m/s
Pressure – 2 ~ 10 bar
Flow rate – 5 ~ 30 lpm
• Abrasive Jet
Velocity – 100 ~ 300 m/s
Mixing ratio – mass flow ratio of abrasive to gas
Stand-off distance – 0.5 ~ 5 mm
Impingement Angle – 600 ~ 900
• Nozzle
Material – WC / sapphire
Diameter – (Internal) 0.2 ~ 0.8 mm
MACHINING CHARACTERISTICS
 The important machining characteristics in AJM
are
• The material removal rate (MRR) mm3 /min or
gm/min
• The machining accuracy
• The life of the nozzle
PARAMETRIC ANALYSIS
 Important partameters that affect the material removal rate
(MRR) during AJM are
(i) stand-off-distance (SoD) or nozzle tip distance
(NTD)
(ii) type and size of abrasive particles
(iii) Mixing ratio
(iv) gas pressure
(v) abrasive flow rate
Stand-off-distance
 Cross sections of the
actually machined profiles
show that the shape of the
machined cavity changes
with a change of SOD.
 A decrease in SOD improves
accuracy, decreases the
kerf width, and reduces
taper in the machined
groove. But the MRR is
minimum.
 In a range of SOD which
usually varies from 0.75 to
1 mm the MRR is maximum.

 Light operations like

cleaning, frosting etc are
conducted with a large SOD
(12.5 – 75 mm)
Size of abrasive particles
 The increase of the abrasive
size (d) increases the
material removal rate.
 Fine grains are less
irregular in shape, hence
their cutting ability is poor
Mixing ratio
 Mixing ratio is equal to the
ratio of volume flow rate of
abrasive particles to the
volume flow rate of carrier
gas
 An increase in the value of
M increases MRR, but a
large value of M may
decrease jet velocity and
sometimes may block the
nozzle.
 Thus an otimum value of
mixing ratio has been
observed that gives
maximum MRR.
Gas pressure
 When gas pressure
increases the MRR
increases.
 The reason may be the
increase in gas pressure
increases the kinetic energy
of the abrasive particles
which is responsible for the
removal of material by
erosion.
  As shown in figure, MRR
increases only up to a
certain value of abrasive
flow rate beyond which it
Abrasive flow rate 
starts decreasing.
As abrasive flow increases
the number of abrasive
particles cutting the
workpiece also increases.
This increases MRR

 But after reachining a

optimum value ,the material
removal rate decreases with
increase in abrasive flow
rate .
 This is because flow rate of
the gas decreases with
increase of abrasive flow
rate and mixing ratio
increases causing a
decrease in jet velocity
thereby decrease in
material removal rate
because of less energy
available for erosion
PROCESS CAPABILITIESOVERVIEW
OF BASIC UCMPs
 AJM can easily produce intricate details in hard and brittle
materials.
 Production of narrow slots (0.12-0.25mm), low tolerance(+-
0.12mm), good surface finish(0.25-1.25 μm) and sharp
radius(0.2mm) on machined edge are some of the
characteristics of AJM.
 Steels upto 1.5 mm thick and glass upto 6.3 mm thick have
been possible to cut by AJM (but low MRR and large taper)
Applications of AJM
Applications of AJM
Applications of AJM
APPLICATIONS

• For drilling holes of intricate shapes in hard and brittle materials

• For machining fragile, brittle and heat sensitive materials

• AJM can be used for drilling, cutting, deburring, cleaning and

etching.

• Micro-machining of brittle materials

 The pictures show

(i) Drilling on glass substrate
(ii) Slotting on borosilicate glass
(iii) Machining on silicon waver
(iv) various polymer products
(V) Deburring a bone screw
(vi) Deburring the hole
(vii) Removing hard conformal coatings from a printed circuit board.
It will remove the coating without affecting the
underlyingcomponents
Limitations of the process

 MRR is rather low (around ~ 15 mm 3/min for machining glass)

 Abrasive particles tend to get embedded particularly if the

work material is ductile

 Tapering occurs due to flaring of the jet