Experimental investigation of Hastelloy C-276 using abrasive waterjet milling

Abrasive waterjet milling (AWJ Milling) is a machining method as it can be used to quickly process a wide range of industrial materials without adversely affecting their properties. The viability of using AWJ milling to machine Hastelloy C-276 Ni-Mo-Cr super alloy was investigated here in detail for the first time. Experiments were performed by varying AWJ milling process parameters, including the water jet pressure, standoff distance, traverse speed, and abrasive flow rate using the Taguchi orthogonal array. A desirability function analysis was applied to identify the optimum AWJ milling conditions for maximizing material removal rate and minimizing surface roughness. The surface morphology of the super alloy samples was studied to determine the material removal mechanism under the optimal milling conditions. In addition, a semi-empirical model was developed to predict the surface roughness of Hastelloy C-276 processed using AWJ milling. These findings are expected to promote the wider use of AWJ milling for machining of Hastelloy C-276 super alloy, which could improve the processing efficiency and quality of parts for chemical and nuclear industries, among others.