A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering, School of Advanced Technologies

Thesis (M.Eng.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2005

Abrasive waterjet machining (AWJ) is one of the non-conventional manufacturing processes, where waterjet stream mixed with abrasive particles is used as a cutting tool. This AWJ process has been very popular since the beginning of the 19th century for through cutting of wide variety of materials for industrial applications. AWJ process has several advantages over other non-conventional machining processes. As this process has been well recognized for the cutting operations, several researches have been going on towards using this AWJ machining for milling applications. This study is an effort to investigate the use of waterjet machining process for the application of milling. The objectives of this study aims to form a relationship between the depth of cut and process parameters, and to develop a guideline for obtaining good surface quality at the bottom surface through a set of process sequences. In this study, design of experiment (DOE) had been discussed and used successfully to bring out the experimental results in a logical way. A wide variety of experiments were conducted to understand the phenomenon more clearly. On the basis of the experimental results, regression model was developed and comments have been given for the parameter behaviors with respect to depth of cut. For developing the guideline to obtain good surface quality at the bottom surface, several sets of experiments were conducted with different sets of parameters and with different movement patterns of the nozzle. It was found that the process is very sensitive to the process parameters. A well controlled process can give good results in terms of the surface quality.