Experimental Study of Glass Fibre Reinforced Polymer Surfaces Machined by Abrasive Water Jet Machining

Glass fibre reinforced polymer composites are being used increasingly for numerous applications. Conventional machining of glass fibre reinforced polymers is difficult because of excessive tool wear, delamination, improper kerf properties, etc. In this paper, an experimental study of influence of abrasive water jet machining process parameters on surface roughness of glass fibre reinforced polymer is presented. Process parameters namely stand-off distance, water pressure, traverse rate and abrasive mass flow rate are considered in the present work. The influence of process parameters on surface roughness is investigated using analysis of variance approach. It is observed that water pressure and abrasive mass flow rate are the most significant factors in influencing surface roughness. A set of optimum process parameters is determined on the basis of analysis of experimental data. The experimental results are successfully verified by comparing with the available literature. A regression model is developed using multi-linear regression approach on the basis of experimental analysis.