Abstracto

Control and measurement of abrasive flow rate in an Abrasive Waterjet Machine

S. R. Patel, Dr. A. A. Shaikh

A state of the art in unconventional machining is the use of high pressure waterjet as cutting tool. Abrasive is mixed to such high pressure pure waterjet to attain abrasive waterjet to increase its cutting capability many times and can almost any material. Abrasive waterjet machining is a versatile process and widely being used for cutting profiles from various materials. The abrasive in the water jet would provide numerous cutting edges to increase its cutting potential many folds. Evidently the increased cutting capability would depend upon the amount and type of abrasive blended in to the abrasive waterjet. Therefore, the flow rate of the abrasive becomes very important machine parameter that could be adjusted to control the machining performance of the abrasive waterjet. To study the influence of the abrasive flow rate on machining performance experimentally, accurate control and measurement is called for. This paper presents an attempt for the calibration of abrasive flow control system mounted on an Abrasive Waterjet Machine intended to perform research oriented experiments.