Green Machining of NFRP Material

Abstract

Nowadays, great emphasis is placed on environmental aspects of production processes with focus to lower carbon footprint. Natural fibre-reinforced plastics (NFRP) show potential for application in many fields of industry due their specific properties. Machining of NFRP-based materials is meeting several problems arising from non-homogenous structure as well as plastic-based matrix. Machining of NFRP using conventional technologies meets limitations due to the properties and geometry of the tools. Abrasive water jet (AWJ) machining can solve some of the problems machining NFRP materials. The presented article focused on surface topography evaluation of one kind of NFRP composite material after cutting by AWJ. Optical profilometry and 3D microscopy were applied for measurement of surface roughness parameters of surfaces created by AWJ with variable cutting parameters. Maximal height of profile Rz was measured in 20 lines perpendicular to the jet direction form upper to lower cut line. Structure of cut surface was observed and evaluated for different technologic parameters. The obtained results show promising presuppositions for application of AWJ technology for cutting of NFRP based materials.

Keywords

• water jet cutting
• non-conventional machining
• NFRP composite
• natural fibre-reinforced plastics
• wood plastic composite
• WPC