SBIR Phase I: Ultrahigh-Pressure Flash Abrasive-Waterjets for Presicion Machining

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发超高压（UHP）闪蒸磨料水射流（faj），以减轻非闪蒸磨料水射流在精密加工中的局限性。awj是一种冷加工工艺，在很大程度上与材料无关，在钻大纵横比小直径孔、精密加工、铣削和近净成形方面优于其他工具，特别是在复合材料、层压板和钛合金（如钛和铬镍铁合金）方面。超高压技术已被公认为主流工业加工工具之一。然而，水在awj中几乎不可压缩，导致复合材料微裂纹、层合板分层和入孔直径扩大等异常现象。本项目将通过硬件和工艺开发与集成，开发faj，模拟acj的相变特性，以减少材料损坏，提高工艺精度。与acj相比，faj的成本效益和便携性将提高2个数量级，并且操作更安全。将设计、制造和测试一个faj实验室模型，以证明在awj的基础上改进精度加工性能的可行性。该项目更广泛的（商业）影响将是一种新的工艺，利用AWJ加工相对于其他制造工艺的固有优势（例如，环保，能够处理各种材料，并且在切割区域不增加热量），同时减轻其局限性。所提出的faj将最适合加工复合材料、层压板和其他先进材料上的复杂几何形状（例如，长纵横比、小直径和异形孔）。faj将满足这些材料在航空航天、电子和国防工业中使用迅速增长的高质量和高成本效益的加工工艺的迫切需求。请注意，faj可以来回切换，以在闪烁和非闪烁模式下运行。这种多功能性将进一步将超高压技术提升到精密加工的另一个水平，扩大美国就业能力的基础。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop ultrahigh-pressure (UHP) flash abrasive waterjets (FAWJs) to mitigate limitations of non-flashing AWJs on precision machining. AWJs, a cold process and largely material independent, are superior to other tools for drilling large-aspect-ratio small-diameter holes, precision machining, milling, and near-net shaping, particularly for composite, laminates, and alloys such as titanium and inconel. UHP technology has been recognized as one of the mainstream industrial machining tools. However, the nearly incompressibility of water in AWJs, induces anomalies such as microcracking of composites, delamination of laminates, and enlargement of entry-hole diameters. This project will develop FAWJs, through hardware and process development and integration, emulating the phase changing feature of ACJs for reducing material damage and enhancing process precision. The FAWJs would be up to 2 orders of magnitude more cost effective and portable, as well as safer to operate than ACJs. An FAWJ laboratory model will be designed, fabricated and tested to demonstrate the feasibility of performance improvement over AWJs for precision machining.The broader (commercial) impacts from this project will be a novel process to take advantage of the inherent superiority of AWJ machining over other manufacturing processes (e.g., environmentally friendly, ability to handle a wide range of materials, and no added heat in the cutting zone) while mitigating its limitations. The proposed FAWJ will be most suitable for machining complex geometry (e.g., long-aspect-ratio small-diameter and shaped holes) on composites, laminates, and other advanced materials. The FAWJ would meet the urgent demand for high quality and cost-effective machining processes for these materials whose usage has grown rapidly in the aerospace, electronics, and defense industries. Note that the FAWJ can be toggled back and forth to operate in both the flashing and non-flashing modes. Such versatility would further elevate UHP technology to yet another level for precision machining, broadening the basis for the U.S. employment capacity.