Towards understanding the influence of process parameters during the abrasive jet machining of cemented carbides via response surface method

Mechanical seals can benefit from surface texturing. However, array textures with high surface quality are difficult to efficiently fabricate on the seal ring made from cemented carbides (WC-6Co) using the conventional machining processes due to the material which behaves high hardness and non-uniform structure. This paper attempted using abrasive jet machining (AJM) method to address this challenge. The influences of AJM parameters on machinability and material removal mechanism of this two-phase WC-6Co were highlighted. Some main parameters such as jet angle, nozzle motion rate, abrasive concentration, air pressure and jet distance were considered, and their influencing mechanisms on machining depth (H_g) and attainable surface roughness (S_a) were analyzed using response surface method (RSM). A three-level five-factor quadratic model was yielded to accurately predict H_g and S_a. The significance of key process parameters and their interactions were visibly compared and analyzed. The process parameters were synchronously optimized by the desirable function of RSM. Average errors for H_g and S_a between experimental and predicted values were within 5.2%, which indicates that the established models could be used to well and truly predict H_g and S_a. The main contribution of this paper is that it is expected to provide guidance for the selection of AJM processing parameters of WC-6Co in actual production.