A Deburring Process Performed by Underwater Shock Wave

A burr is most commonly created after machining operations, such as drilling. Drilling burrs, for example, are common when drilling almost any material. When burrs are broken during the operation of a machine including the parts with the created burrs, the broken piece is in fear of disturbing normal operation or damaging the parts of the machine, so that the sufficient deburring is requested because it can affect equipment performance, reliability, and durability. Several deburring method have been developed up to date. In the present report, we proposed a deburring method by means of applying underwater shock wave. The method is as follows: after all entrance of holes is closed with seal tape, the equipment is submerged, so that all passages for running fluid are filled with air. The explosive is set under water near the entrance of the main hole. As soon as the explosive is detonated, the underwater shock wave generated at the detonation point arrives at the entrance of the hole and breaks through the tape. The water flows into the hole with a high speed. The burr is broken by water hummer action of high speed. In the present investigation, the experiments of deburring are performed under some setting conditions of explosive. It is found by experimental results, that the burr is sufficiently removed with the newly proposed method. When the shock pressure is sufficiently high at the entrance of hole, the burr is broken surface is smooth as polished one. When the shock pressure is not sufficiently high, the broken surface of the burr is notched.