Modeling incision profile in AWJM of Titanium alloys Ti6Al4V

¹ Institut Clément Ader/INSA, Toulouse 135 Avenue de Rangueil 31077, Toulouse Cedex 4, France
² Institut Clément Ader/Université Toulouse III, Paul Sabatier, 118 route de Narbonne 31062, Toulouse Cedex 9, France
³ JEDO Technologies, Rue du Chêne Vert, BP 78204, 31682 Labège, France

^a Corresponding author: tarek.sultan@insa-toulouse.fr

Received: 29 October 2014
Accepted: 23 October 2015

Abstract

Abrasive water jet milling (AWJM) is a new way to perform controlled depth milling especially for hard materials, but it’s not yet enough reliable because of large variety of process parameters and complex footprint geometries that are not well mastered. In order to master the milling device in AWJM, a deep study on the footprint of a single path of the cutting head should first be considered. The flow of the AWJ and the distribution of abrasive particles coming out of the jet are related to the profile measured on the footprint. In this study, experiments were made on titanium alloys specimen to compare several theoretical models to the measured profile of the footprint. This study establishes new models to fit the incision profile taking in consideration the behavior of the abrasive particles impacting the workpiece.