Experimental investigations on pocket milling of Titanium alloy using abrasive water jet machining

Abstract

Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) is one of the most popular unconventional machining processes used to machine difficult-to-machine materials. Apart from regular cutting, it is also used for turning, threading, slotting, milling, etc. This paper details the experimental investigations on Abrasive Water Jet Pocket Milling (AWJPM) on Titanium (Ti6Al4V) using garnet abrasive. The influence of waterjet pressure, step-over, traverse rate and abrasive mass flow rate were studied on the output responses such as depth of cut and surface roughness (Ra). The experiments were designed using L9 Orthogonal Array and ANOVA analysis helped in determination of significant process. ANOVA analysis on depth of cut indicated that step-over and traverse rate are the most significant process parameters. However, ANOVA analysis for surface roughness (Ra) was inconclusive and the significant process parameters could not be determined.