Experimental investigation and optimization of process parameter of abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) on D2 steel

Abstract

Abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) is the most significant hybrid unconventional machining technique for its exceptional material removal rate (MRR) and surface quality for any type of brittle, ductile, and composite materials with a higher level of precision and accuracy. It has great flexibility in machining for producing complex-shaped parts that can be used in automobile, marine, aerospace, and chemical industries. This study focuses on the application of AWJM for cutting of D2 steel components using silicon carbide (SiC) abrasives. The experiments are conducted following the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) of response surface methodology (RSM) as the design of experiment (DOE) by considering pressure (P), traverse speed (TS), and abrasive flow rate (AFR) as the input factors each with three different levels in obtaining the corresponding outputs, namely MRR and surface roughness (Ra). Finally, the multicriteria decision-making (MCDM), Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, is applied to optimize the output values as MRR of 2.757 mm³/sec, and Ra of 1.014 µm.