Defect Analysis and Detection of Cutting Regions in CFRP Machining Using AWJM

The use of composite materials with a polymeric matrix, concretely carbon fiber reinforced polymer, is undergoing further development owing to the maturity reached by the forming processes and their excellent relationship in terms of specific properties. This means that they can be implemented more easily in different industrial sectors at a lower cost. However, when the components manufactured demand high dimensional and geometric requirements, they must be subjected to machining processes that cause damage to the material. As a result, alternative methods to conventional machining are increasingly being proposed. In this article, the abrasive waterjet machining process is proposed because of its advantages in terms of high production rates, absence of thermal damage and respect for the environment. In this way, it was possible to select parameters (stand-off distance, traverse feed rate, and abrasive mass flow rate) that minimize the characteristic defects of the process such as taper angle or the identification of different surface quality regions in order to eliminate striations caused by jet deviation. For this purpose, taper angle and roughness evaluations were carried out in three different zones: initial or jet inlet, intermediate, and final or jet outlet. In this way, it was possible to characterize different cutting regions with scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and to distinguish the statistical significance of the parameters and their effects on the cut through an analysis of variance (ANOVA). This analysis has made it possible to distinguish the optimal parameters for the process.