Alexandria Engineering Journal (Oct 2022)
Damage analysis of a CFRP cross-ply laminate subjected to abrasive water jet cutting
Abstract
The abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting technique is one of the promising techniques used in machining of composite materials due to lack of thermal damage, lower tool wear and higher productivity. In this study, the AWJ cutting of a cross-ply CFRP laminate was investigated experimentally and numerically. The purpose is to understand the underlying physics of the AWJ cutting of a composite plate, which can be later used to control the process as well as optimizing its parameters. In the performed tests of the plate with a stacking sequence of [0°/90°/0°/90°] and having a total thickness value of 0.84 mm, where the pressure of particles and impact angle were varied, different failure characteristics such as fiber pull-out, fiber breakage, fiber debonding, matrix cracking and delamination were noticed. A three-dimensional FE model of the process was developed using ABAQUS finite element software to understand the underlying physics. In the model, the pure water jet particles following the linear Hugoniot form of the Mie-Grüneisen equation of state and highly rigid abrasive particles were modelled using smooth particle hydrodynamics. While the three dimensional Hashin damage model was used to simulate the intra ply damage, cohesive zone elements were used to predict the delamination. The damage characteristics in the composite plate was investigated for different process parameters. When the speed of the AWJ particles increased from 300 m/s to 600 m/s, the amount of delamination decreased from 6.44% to 5.69% at the top interface with no more delamination observed at the middle and bottom interfaces. The delamination performance of 0°/90°/0°/90° orientation was found to be better than those of 0°/90°/90°/0° and 0°/0°/90°/90° orientations. The impact angle of the particles affected the material removal rate in the process significantly. The failure behaviour of the laminate subjected to AWJ and pure water jet cuttings (PWJ) were also compared.
