Abrasive
waterjet (AWJ) cutting technology has been used extensively for the cutting and
processing of almost all engineering materials because of its precise cutting
technique and the lack of damage caused. Currently, the use of abrasive
waterjet cutting in the natural stone industry is increasing. However, the effectiveness
of abrasive waterjet cutting of natural stones is dependent on the rock
properties and machine operating parameters. Consequently, this paper presents
the influence of abrasive waterjet machining parameters on the surface texture
quality of Carrara marble. The results have shown that the abrasive waterjet
cutting process offers better cut surface texture quality of Carrara marble
under certain parameter conditions as well as being more environmentally-friendly.
The stand-off distance shows the opposite effect on both surface roughness and
waviness. With a view to reducing the machining costs, every user tries to select
the traverse rate of the cutting head to be as high as possible, but results
show that increasing the traverse rate always causes a corresponding increase
in terms of inaccuracy, surface roughness, Ra ≈ 93.7 μm, and waviness, Wa ≈ 92.6 μm. The abrasive
mass flow rate is not a significant parameter during the cutting process. In
all investigations, it was found that the machined surface of the marble is
smoother near the jet entrance, Ra ≈ 4 μm, and waviness, Wa ≈ 5 μm, and increasingly
becomes rougher towards the jet exit. The result also shows that the
micro-hardness value of the Carrara marble was in the range of 122 HV to 124
HV.
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