Abrasive Jet Machining

Dr. Sangeeta Mundra

Assistant Professor
Department of Mechanical
Engg.
College of Engineering, Pune
About the Process

• Process of material removal by impact erosion

• Can be used to cut hard and brittle materials

(germanium, silica, mica, glass etc)
 Overview

• In AJM, generally, the abrasive particles of around

50 μm grit size 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
sufficient to provide material removal due to brittle
fracture of the work piece or even micro cutting
by the abrasives.
Abrasive Jet Machining-Process

High velocity abrasive gas jet (150 ~ 300

m/s)

nozzle
Stand off distance (0.5
dia (0.2 ~0.8 mm) ~15 mm)

workpiece
Principle of working

• Impingement of abrasive particles on work material at a

high velocity.
• The jet of abrasive particles carried by carrier gas or air
• High velocity jet due to conversion of pressure energy of
the carrier gas to its kinetic energy .
• Nozzle directs abrasive jet in a controlled manner onto
work material.
• SOD and the impingement angle can be set desirably.
• Removal of High velocity abrasive particles by micro-
cutting action as well as brittle fracture of the work
material.
Schematic diagram of AJM
 Nozzle , an important part…
• Nozzle material: Tungsten carbide/ Sapphire
• Tungsten carbide nozzles available with round or rectangular
holes
• Sappire nozzle only in round configuration
• Life of nozzle defined by its application, usual life 300 hrs
• The nozzle pressure is generally of the order 8.5 kPa
depending upon the work piece material and desired
accuracy.
• Nozzle is changed more often for Exacting operations (like
cutting) than etching, cleaning etc.
• As nozzle wears, jet tends to diffuse faster, resulting in
material damage outside the line of cut, called stray cutting
and poor accuracy
Nozzle continued…

• Rectangular nozzles create less stray cutting than

round ones
• Stray cutting is controlled by use of masks made of soft
materials like rubber (for less accurate works) or metals
(for more accurate works).
• Mask is applied to cover that part of the job surface
where machining is not desirable.
Machine aspects
Around curves
Inside corner
Feed rate
Acceleration
Nozzle focus
Speed of cutting
Pump pressure
Hardness & thickness of
abrasive
Software controlling the
motion
Power at the nozzle
Process Parameters and Machining
Characteristics
The process parameters are :
• Type of Abrasives
• Choice depends on type of machining
(roughig/finishing), work material and cost
• 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 to 700 m/s
• Pressure – 2 to 10 bar
• Flow rate(carrier gas) – 5 to 30 lpm
• Abrasive Jet
• Velocity – 100 to 300 m/s
• Mixing ratio – mass flow ratio of abrasive to gas

• Nozzle
• Material – WC / sapphire
• Diameter – (Internal) 0.2 ~ 0.8 mm
• Life – 10 ~ 300 hours
• Stand-off distance – 0.5 ~ 5 mm
• Impingement Angle – 600 ~ 900
Effect of variables in AJM

• Carrier gas
• Must not flare excessively from nozzle to
atmosphere
• Non toxic, cheap, easily available, capable of
being dried and cleaned
• Type of abrasives
• Depends on type of machining operation viz
roughing, finishing, work material, cost
• Be sharp, irregular shape, fine enough to remain
suspended in the carrier gas
• Have excellent flow characteristics
Types of abrasive materials

• Different types of abrasive are used in

abrasive jet machining like Aluminium oxide
for brass and aluminium. Silicon carbide for
stainless steel and ceramics, sodium bicarbonate
for nylon, Teflon. Glass beads for polishing.
• Virtually any material can be cut by using
abrasive jet machining method , i.e harder
aterials like titanium, steel etc.
• Abrasive particles must be hard and should
possess high toughness,
• Irregular in shape & edges should be sharp.
Abrasive Materials Contd….

• Size of Abrasive:10-150 micron

• Quantity: 1-5 g/min for fine work
5-10 g/min for usual cuts
10-20 g/min for heavier cuts
Table: Recommneded use of abrasives

Surface Roughness Achievable

Effect of variables in AJM

• For cutting: Aluminium oxide, silicon carbide

• For cleaning, etching, deburring and polishing: sodium
bicarbonate, dolomite, glass beads etc.
• Reuse of abrasive not recommended
• Grain size
• Finer grains less irregular in shape, so lesser cutting
ability
• Finer grains stick together , choke the nozzle
• Favorable grain size- 10 to 50 micron
• Coarse grains recommended for cutting, finer grades
for polishing, deburring
Effect of variables in AJM contd..
• Jet Velocity
• K.E of abrasive is jet utilized for metal removal by
erosion
• Certain minimum velocity of impingement by
abrasive is required. Ex: min jet velocity 150 m/s for
erosion of glass by silicon carbide
• Jet velocity – function of nozzle pressure, nozzle
design, abrasive grain size, mean no. of abrasives
per unit volume of carrier gas
Effect of variables in AJM contd..

Mean no. of abrasive grains per unit volume of

carrier gas
Mixing ratio(M)= volume flow rate of abrasive per
unit time/volume flow rate of carrier gas per unit time
• Large M results in higher MRR rate but large
abrasive flow rate adversely effect jet velocity,
some times clogs the nozzle
• Thus, for given condition there is an optimal M
leading to max. MRR
• Work material
AJM is recommended for processing of brittle
materials like glass, ceramics, refractories
Effect of variables in AJM contd..
• Stand off distance(SOD)
• SOD effect MRR and accuracy
• Large SOD results in flaring of jet leading to poor
accuracy
• Small MRR at low SOD due to reduction in nozzle
pressure with decreasing distance while drop in MRR
at large SOD due to reduction in jet velocity with
increasing distane
• Nozzle design
• Must be made up of materials of high resistance to
wear commonly sapphire and tungsten carbide
• Designed so that pressure loss due to bends, friction
should be min.
Effect of process parameters on MRR

Fig: Effect of Abrasive Flow Rate on MRR

Fig: Effect of Abrasive Flow and Mixing Ratio on MRR

Fig: Effect of Gas flow on Abrasive flow
Effect of process parameters on MRR

Fig: Effect of NTD on Material Removal

Fig: Effect of NTD on Machining accuracy

AJM Process Capability
• MRR is low (typically only .016 cm3/min
– Typical cutting speeds vary between 25 -125 mm/min
• Dimensional Tolerances
– Typical range ±2 to ±5 μm
• The min radius that can be produced is 0.2 mm.
• Slots as narrow as 0.12 - 0.25 mm possible when stray
cutting is minimized with rectangular nozzles.
• Surface Finish
– Typical Ra values vary from 0.3 - 2.3 μm
• 1.5 mm thick steel and 6.3 mm thick glass can be cut by
AJM, but with large tapers.
Modelling of Material removal
• Material removal in AJM is due to brittle fracture of the
work material due to impact of high velocity abrasive
particles.
• Modelling assumptions:
(i) Abrasives are spherical in shape and rigid. The particles
are characterised by the mean grit diameter
(ii) The kinetic energy of the abrasives are fully utilised in
removing material
(iii) For ductile work material, the material removal is equal
to the volume of the indentation due to particulate impact.
(iv) For brittle material, the volume of material removed is
hemispherical whose diameter is equal to the chord length
of the indentation.
Interaction of the abrasive particle and the work
material in AJM

Scheme of Material Removal Mechanism

Interaction of abrasive particles with workpiece
contd..

B C
δ

D
2r
d is abrasive particle size, δ is indentation depth and 2r is chord length
Effect of Velocity on Material
Removal Rate
Applications and Limitations
Applications
• Abrading and frosting glass more economically as
compared to etching or grinding
• Cleaning of metallic smears on ceramics, oxides on metals,
resistive coatings etc
• Cutting and machining of fragile material like germanium,
silicon etc
• Deburring small hole like in hypodermic needles and for
small milled slots in hard metallic components
Limitations
• The volumetric or stock removal rate is very low
• Not suitable for Elastomers or soft plastics
• The accuracy of cutting is hampered by tapering effect and
stray cutting
• Short stand off distance when used for cutting damages the
nozzle
• Sometimes abrasive particles may be embedded in the w/p
Advantages and Disadvantages

• Ability to machine brittle materials with thin sections

• Absence of tool work contact, material removal at
microscopic scale so very little /no heat generation so
less surface damage
• Low power consumption
• However, AJM is restricted to brittle materials (MRR
very low when applied to ductile material)
• Post processing -additional cleaning may be required
• High nozzle wear rate
 You should know

 Describe the basic mechanism of material removal

in AJM
 The effects of various parameters on working
accuracy and rate of metal removal in AJM like
Grain size, Jet velocity, Stand off distance etc.
 Give reasons for inaccuracies in AJM process?
 Condition for which AJM will produce equal MRR
both for ductile and brittle materials.
 List applications and limitations of AJM