Optimum abrasive flow rate modelling for titanium alloy cutting using abrasive water jet

Abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting systems are extensively used in industry, thus optimisation of the process parameters that determine efficiency, economy and quality of the process is becoming more and more important. However, being a complicated cutting system, the performance of AWJ is characterised by a large number of process parameters, which include water pressure, orifice diameter, traverse rate, standoff distance, impact angle, focusing tube diameter, abrasive flow rate (AFR), etc. Therefore, optimising the process parameters involves a number of challenging efforts. This paper concentrates on investigating the optimum AFR at the highest cutting speed under different water pressures, orifice diameters and focusing tube diameters. Based on a theoretical derivation combined with an experimental study, an empirical model for calculating the optimum AFR is created.