An Experimental Evaluation of the Cutting Capability of SS 431 Steel Using Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM)

Abstract

The study begins with a comprehensive experimental investigation into the cutting capability of SS 431 steel using abrasive water jet machining (AWJM), focusing on optimizing the process through a response surface methodology (RSM-BBD) approach. Parametric analysis of the AWJM process identified the key factors affecting the cutting performance, such as the abrasive water pressure, standoff distance, and traverse speed. An increase in the water jet pressure and standoff distance which improves the material removal rate by 42.25%. As the standoff distance decreased, surface quality was improved by 7.89%. The surface characteristics and material removal rate results correlated with the optimized machining parameters, providing insights into the trade-off machining efficiency.

Keywords

• SS 431
• AWJM
• RSM-BBD
• surface quality
• optimization
• micro hardness