Water Jet Machining of Hybrid Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites

Machining conventional materials is an easy and fast process. However, these conventional materials possess high density, corrosive in nature, and create environmental problems. Keeping all these points in mind, material researchers need materials that are light in weight, corrosion-resistant and easy to shape. Fiber-reinforced polymer composites possess all such properties and are widely used in every field, including engineering, aerospace, automobile and others. Earlier there were traditional ways of machining composites that created damage to fiber, the delamination of the fiber matrix and irregular surface boundaries. Today, advanced machining processes, such as water jet machining (WJM) and abrasive water jet machining (AWJM), are versatile machining methods to machine different types of fiber-reinforced composites. This chapter emphasizes on effect of WJM and AWJM parameters on surface roughness, the dimensional accuracy of machined parts and damage to the fiber and the matrix of polymer composites.