Recycling of abrasives in abrasive water jet cutting with different types of granite

摘要

The cost of abrasives has restricted usage of abrasive water jet (AWJ) technology in natural stone cutting applications. However, recycling of the abrasives makes the technology more economical, effective, and environmentally friendly. In this study, significant rock properties affecting the recycling of abrasives in AWJ cutting of granites are investigated. Abrasive mass percentage above 106 μm (AMP106μm) is considered as a performance criterion in terms of recycling of abrasives since these abrasives can be effectively reused in the rock cutting applications. The study reveals that a considerable amount of used abrasives is in a reusable form. Among the rock properties, the microhardness is statistically determined as the most significant rock property affecting theAMP106μm. It is also concluded that theAMP106μm can be explained with high accuracy by the proposed model including the microhardness, the quartz content, and the plagioclase content.