Freeform waterjetting: General Industry Coverage

In contrast to cutting through materials with abrasive waterjets, abrasive waterjet milling uses high-energy fluid jets to produce complex, freeform surface features on parts by controlling the jet penetration depth. However, waterjet milling relies on craftsmanship, or a trial-and-error approach, in which users need to do significant development work to identify optimal operating parameters followed by extensive part-quality analysis, according to Dragos Axinte, a professor of manufacturing engineering at the U.K.-based University of Nottingham.

Images courtesy of University of Nottingham

Using the ConforM²-Jet control, a freeform surface on a Ti6Al4V workpiece is efficiently abrasive waterjet milled without human intervention.

To improve process capability, the university’s Machining and Condition Monitoring Research Team is leading a European project to develop a self-learning control system, called ConforM²-Jet. “Self-learning methodologies are increasingly used to search for optimal solutions of complex systems when experimental data is available,” Axinte said. “The self-learning ability of the ConforM²-Jet controller will increase the robustness and efficiency of high-energy, fluid-jet milling production systems. At the end of the project, we will have produced the software and a control system to completely automate abrasive waterjet milling and hence take it out of the craftsmanship remit.”