Experimental investigation of the performance of alternative abrasives in natural stone cutting with abrasive waterjet

In this study, the cutting performances of abrasives (garnet, white and brown fused alumina, glass beads, emery powder, olivine, steel shot and plastic granule) that can be used as alternatives to garnet in abrasive water jet (AWJ) cutting of natural stones were examined. Cutting performances of the abrasives were evaluated based on the cutting width/depth, material removal rate, kerf angle, surface roughness and declination angle. Various properties of the natural stones/abrasives were determined and correlated with the cutting performance of abrasives. Moreover, statistical models were developed for the estimation of cutting performance outputs with regression analysis. As a result of the study, it is revealed that the steel shot and aluminum oxides show the best performance in terms of the cutting depth, material removal rate and kerf angle. Additionally, it is also determined that the plastic granule shows poor cutting performance (excluding declination angle). On the other hand, it is concluded that the surface roughness is related to rock properties rather than abrasive properties. The most important material properties affecting the cutting performance were determined as density (for abrasive) and Böhme wear loss (for natural stones). Besides, it is concluded that the performance outputs can be predicted effectively with the proposed models. As a result, based on the desired parameters (high cutting depth, low surface roughness, etc.), it can be said that the abrasives (excluding plastic granule) examined in the study can be considered as alternatives to garnet.