QUANTIFICATION OF ENERGY-ABSORPTION CAPABILITY IN ABRASIVE WATER-JET MACHINING

The paper contains a mathematical model for the estimation of the ener gy absorption capability of materials during abrasive water jet machin ing based on an energy balance inside the workpiece. A parameter chi(h ) is defined To describe and calculate the energy absorption capabilit y A method for the estimation of this parameter is developed based on a parabolic striation model. It is shown that the energy absorption de pends on the depth of cut following a second-order equation. The relat ion between the relative depth of cut h/h(max) and the energy absorpti on capability chi(h) can also be described by a second-order equation. For such materials as aluminium, cast iron and stainless steel a crit ical point of abrasive water jet energy absorption is detected at a de pth of cut of h = 0.52h(max), which corresponds To a striation angle o f about 75 degrees.