An analytical model for material removal in abrasive jet machining for brittle materials

Optical microscopy has indicated that the abrasive particles used in abrasive jet machining have sharp edges with the shapes similar to cone or pyramid. Moreover, microscopic examination of cross section of work samples eroded by AJM shows that, for brittle materials, material removal is due to intersection and propagation of cracks produced by adjacent impacting particles on target surface. An analytical model has been developed based on the above observations for predicting the material removal in abrasive jet machining process. The model also suggests the critical value of mass flow rate which has been substantiated experimentally. In addition, the influence of velocity and mass flow rate of abrasive particles on material removal rate is briefly described.