Analysis and modeling of the effects of process parameters on specific cutting energy in abrasive water jet cutting

The problem of cutting difficult-to-machine materials used in the aerospace industry, aircraft industry, and automobile industry, led to the development and application one of today’s most attractive technology for contour cutting - abrasive water jet cutting. For the efficient use of abrasive water jet cutting, it is of great importance to analyze the impact of process parameters on performance indicators, such as cutting quality, productivity, and costs. But also, from the energy utilization point of view, it is very important to analyze the impact of these parameters on the specific cutting energy which represents the amount of energy spent on the removal of material in the unit time. Having this in mind, this study presents the experimental results of abrasive water jet cutting of aluminum alloy with the aim of creating a mathematical model for estimating specific cutting energy as an important indicator of the degree of utilization of the available energy in the cutting process. The mathematical model of the specific cutting energy is explicitly represented as a non-linear function of the process parameters, obtained by the artificial neural network. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. TR 35034