Study on Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Compacted Graphite Iron on Taguchi Method

In this research has been investigated the influence of abrasive flow rate (AFR), stand-off distance (SOD) and traverse speed (TS) on surface roughness (SR), kerf width (KW) and kerf taper angle (KTA) during the abrasive water jet machining (AWJM) of 10 mm thick compacted graphite iron (CGI). A full factorial Taguchi L27 orthogonal array was employed to optimize the process parameters in terms of SR, KW, and KTA. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to evaluate the statistical significance and contribution ratios of the parameters. The results revealed that AFR was the most dominant factor affecting SR and KTA, whereas TS had the greatest influence on KW. In contrast, SOD showed only a very small effect on all response variables. The optimized machining conditions for CGI were determined as 325 g/min AFR, 1.5 mm SOD, and 20 mm/min TS for minimum surface roughness. The findings highlight that the AWJM process can effectively machine CGI with high precision and minimal thermal damage, offering a viable alternative to conventional methods for difficult to machine materials.