Studies of Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) Parameters on Banana/Polyester Composites Using Robust Design Concept

In this present work the banana/polyester was fabricated using hand layup method followed by compression moulding technique. The moulded composite was studied with special references to the Taguchi’s method for optimizing the cutting parameters of AWJM for minimizing the kerf width and kerf taper. An L 9 (3 4 ) orthogonal array was selected to conduct the experiment with the identified significant parameters such as Feed rate, Pressure, Standoff distance and Abrasive Method. The significance of cutting parameters was analysed with the help of ANOVA. The optimum process parameters were identified with the help of signal to noise ratio (SN). The decreasing value of hardness was observed after the machining of composite using shore-D hardness tester. The influence of abrasive particle was found to be predominant affecting the performance of the output quality measures.