An investigation of abrasive waterjet machining of cubic boron nitride (CBN) with a softer abrasive material

摘要

For an effective machining of high-performance materials, high-strength cutting materials, e.g. cubic boron nitride (CBN), with high resistance to any kind of wear are used. However, these materials must also be able to be machined in order to produce geometric elements such as chip breakers or chip grooves. According to the current state of the art, grinding and laser beam technology are used for this purpose. In this paper, an attempt was made to use the erosive removal mechanism of abrasive water jet technology to cut a harder material with a softer abrasive. Within the framework of a full factorial test plan, the removal rate, the macroscopic kerf geometry on CBN were investigated by means of abrasive waterjet machining. It could be proven that it is possible to remove a harder material with a softer abrasive by means of abrasive water jet technology.