An Investigation in Abrasive Waterjet Cutting of Al6061/SiC/Al2O3 Composite Using Principal Component Based Response Surface Methodology

Abrasive waterjet was found effective in cutting materials like glass, steel and aluminium for various industrial applications. The effect of process parameters on abrasive waterjet cutting (AWJC) of Al6061/SiC/Al2O3 composite was disclosed in the present work. The cutting parameters taken for study were traverse speed, abrasive flow rate, water pressure and stand-off distance. Surface roughness, kerf width and bevel angle of cut were observed as the quality characteristics for various cutting trials. Experiments were designed using Taguchi's L18 orthogonal array and an integrated technique of principal component based response surface methodology (PC-RSM) was disclosed for designing the parameters. Significant improvements were observed in the quality characteristics obtained with optimal parameter setting identified by PC-RSM approach. Abrasive waterjet parameters like water pressure, stand-off distance and the interaction between abrasive flow rate and traverse speed were found to be influential on the quality characteristics.