Influence of Process Parameters on Surface Roughness in Abrasive Waterjet Cutting of Titanium

Abrasive waterjet cutting is one of the nontraditional machining processes capable of cutting wide range of hard-to-cut materials. This process incurs relatively higher initial investment, maintenance and operating costs. Therefore optimum choice of the process parameters is essential for the economic, efficient and effective utilization of this process. This paper assesses the influence of process parameters on surface roughness which is an important cutting performance measure in abrasive waterjet cutting of titanium. Experiments were conducted in varying water pressure, nozzle traverse speed, abrasive mass flow rate and standoff distance for cutting titanium using abrasive waterjet cutting process. The effects of these parameters on surface roughness have been studied based on the experimental results. It is recommended that a combination of high water pressure, more abrasive mass flow rate, low traverse speed and short standoff distance be used to produce less surface roughness.