Comparison of Continuous and Pulsating Water Jet during Piercing of Ductile Material

More efficient ways to process materials are constantly being sought, even in the case of continuous water flow technology, which acts on materials mainly by stagnant pressure. An alternative method is an ultrasound-stimulated pulsating water jet, the basis of which is the repeated use of impact pressure, which reduces the time interval for mechanical relaxation. This article focuses on a comparative study from the point of view of water mass flow rate on material penetration and its integrity. Relatively low pressures (p = 20, 30, and 40 MPa) with varying nozzle diameters (d = 0.4 and 0.6 mm) were used to identify the effectiveness of the pulsating water jet. The time exposure of the jet at a fixed place was varied from t = 0.5 to 5 s for each experimental condition. The results showed that with an increase in the pressure and diameter values, the disintegration depth increased. In addition, the surface topography and morphology images showed signs of ductile erosion in the form of erosion pits, upheaved surfaces, and crater formation. The microhardness study showed an increase of 10% subsurface microhardness after the action of the pulsating water jet as compared to the original material.

Comparison of Maraging Steel Surface Integrity in Hybrid and Conventional Micro-ECDM Processes

Maraging steel is one of the exotic materials showing the potential for application in the field of the aerospace industry. However, machining these materials with high surface quality and material removal rate is problematic. The micro-electro chemical discharge (MECDM) process is capable of resolving this problem to some extent, however, due to the spark action, it fails to attain a high surface finish. In the current investigation, micro-hole drilling is performed on maraging steel with powder-mixed alumina (1% wt. of Al2O3) using the micro-electro chemical discharge machining (PMECDM) process. The effect of different input process factors, for example, voltage (V), duty cycle (D), the electrolyte concentration (C), are considered for investigating the machining performance, i.e., rate of material removal (MRR) and roughness of surface (SR) of the machined substrate. Further, a comparative analysis is established between micro-ECDM (MECDM) and mixed powder ECDM (PMECDM). The Box–Behnken design is used to conduct all the experiments and analysis of variance (ANOVA) is used to optimize the results. The outcomes reveal that MRR in PMECDM is enhanced by 34%, and the average surface roughness is reduced by 21% over the MECDM process. The maximum MRR was observed to be 2.44 mg/min and the hole machined by the PMECDM results in a cleaner hole wall surface than the MECDM process due to the grinding action by the powder particles. The residual stress measurement indicates that the PMECDM (−128.3 ± 3.85 MPa) has the lowest equivalent stress as compared to the parent material (−341.04 ± 10.24 MPa) and MECDM (−200.7 ± 6.02 MPa) surfaces. The applied voltage is the most significant parameter, followed by the duty factor and electrolyte concentration for enhancing the MRR and surface finish. The addition of powder improves the surface integrity of the machined surface as compared to the surfaces produced by the MECDM processes.

Surface and Subsurface Analysis of Stainless Steel and Titanium Alloys Exposed to Ultrasonic Pulsating Water Jet

This article deals with the effect of periodically acting liquid droplets on the polished surfaces of AISI 316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V titanium alloy. These materials were exposed to a pulsating water jet produced using an ultrasonic sonotrode with an oscillation frequency of 21 kHz placed in a pressure chamber. The only variable in the experiments was the time for which the materials were exposed to water droplets, i.e., the number of impingements; the other parameters were kept constant. We chose a low number of impingements to study the incubation stages of the deformation caused by the pulsating water jet. The surfaces of the specimens were studied using (1) confocal microscopy for characterizing the surface profile induced by the water jet, (2) scanning electron microscopy for detailed surface observation, and (3) transmission electron microscopy for detecting the changes in the near-surface microstructure. The surface described by the height of the primary profile of the surface increased with the number of impingements, and was substantially more intense in the austenitic steel than in the Ti alloy. Irregular surface depressions, slip lines, and short cracks were observed in the Ti alloy, whereas pronounced straight slip bands formed in the austenitic steel. The dislocation density near the surface was measured quantitatively, reaching high values of the order of 10¹⁴ m^-2 in the austenitic steel and even higher values (up to 3 × 10¹⁵ m^-2) in the Ti alloy. The origins of the mentioned surface features differed in the two materials: an intense dislocation slip on parallel slip planes for the Ti alloy and mechanical twinning combined with dislocation slip for the austenitic steel.

Effect of Periodic Water Clusters on AISI 304 Welded Surfaces

This study compared the effect of the interaction time of periodic water clusters on the surface integrity of AISI 304 tungsten inert gas (TIG) welded joints at different excitation frequencies, as the effect of the technological parameters of pulsating water jet (PWJ) on the mechanical properties of TIG welded joints are under-researched. The TIG welded joints were subjected to different frequencies (20 and 40 kHz) and traverse speeds (1–4 mm/s) at a water pressure of 40 MPa and a standoff distance of 70 mm. The effect of the interaction of the pulsating jet on the material and the enhancement in its mechanical properties were compared through residual stress measurements, surface roughness, and sub-surface microhardness. A maximum enhancement in the residual stress values of up to 480 MPa was observed in the heat-affected zone, along with a maximum roughness of 6.03 µm and a maximum hardness of 551 HV using a frequency of 40 kHz. The improvement in the surface characteristics of the welded joints shows the potential of utilizing pulsed water jet technology with an appropriate selection of process parameters in the treatment of welded structures.

Material Utilization of Cotton Post-Harvest Line Residues in Polymeric Composites

This paper deals with a research focused on utilization of microparticle and short-fiber filler based on cotton post-harvest line residues in an area of polymeric composites. Two different fractions of the biological filler (FCR—reinforced cotton filler) of 20 and 100 µm and the filler with short fibers of a length of 700 µm were used in the research. The aim of the research was to evaluate mechanical characteristics of composites and adhesive bonds for the purpose of gaining new pieces of knowledge which will be applicable in the area of material engineering and assessing application possibilities of residues coming into being from agricultural products processing. Mechanical properties of the composite material produced by a vacuum infusion and tested at temperatures 20, 40, and 60 °C and adhesive bonds which were exposed to a low-cyclic loading, i.e., 1000 cycles at 30% to 70% from reference value of the maximum strength, were evaluated. Composite systems with the FCR adjusted in 5% water solution of NaOH showed higher strength values on average compared to untreated FCR. Unsuitable size of the FCR led to a deterioration of the strength. The filler in the form of 700 FCR microfibers showed itself in a positive way to composite materials, and the particle in the form of 20 FCR did the same to adhesive bonds. Results of adhesive bond cyclic tests at higher stress values (70%) demonstrated viscoelastic behavior of the adhesive layer.