Theoretical and Experimental Investigation on SiC/SiC Ceramic Matrix Composites Machining with Laser Water Jet

SiC/SiC ceramic matrix composites (CMCs) are widely applied in the aerospace and nuclear industries due to their excellent material nature (strength, hardness, and irradiation tolerance) at high-temperature loads. However, high-quality machining cannot be easily realized because of the anisotropic material structure and its properties. In this study, a laser water jet (LWJ) was adopted for CMCs machining. Firstly, the finite element model (FEM) was established describing a representative three-dimensional microstructure including weft yarn, warp yarn, SiC base, and the pyrolytic carbon (PyC) fiber coating. The temperature distribution, as well as its evolution rule on substrate surface under LWJ machining, was analyzed. Moreover, a single-dot ablation test was carried out to verify the accuracy of the numerical simulation model. Secondly, the variation in maximum temperatures under different laser pulse energy was obtained by means of FEM. Nonetheless, a non-negligible deviation emerged in the ablation depth of the numerical calculation and experimental results. Although the simulation results were obviously superior to the experimental results, their proportions of different machining parameters reached an agreement. This phenomenon can be explained by the processing characteristics of LWJ. Finally, single-row and multi-row scribing experiments for CMCs with 3 mm thickness were developed to clarify the processing capacity of LWJ. The experimental results indicated that single-tow scribing has a limiting value at a groove depth of 2461 μm, while complete cutting off can only be realized by multi-row scribing of LWJ. In addition, the cross-section of CMCs treated by LWJ presented a surface morphology without a recast layer, pulling out of SiC fibers, and delamination. The theoretical and experimental results can offer primary technical support for the high-quality machining of CMCs.