ANALYTICAL MODELING OF THE TOTAL DEPTH OF CUT IN THE ABRASIVE WATER-JET MACHINING OF POLYCRYSTALLINE BRITTLE MATERIAL

In the present paper, the material removal mechanism in the abrasive w ater jet machining of polycrystalline ceramics is addressed. The propo sed mechanism seems to be micro-cutting and inter-granular fracture at shallow angles of impact. This is followed by plastic deformation and inter-granular fracture at near-orthogonal angles of impact. The anal ytical model developed to predict the total depth of cut correlates qu ite well with experimental data. Future scope exists for the incorpora tion into the model of the variation in the width of cut over the dept h. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A.