Microscale surface topography and its forming mechanism in abrasive suspension jet processing

Abstract Microscale, nanometer to micrometer, is critical to research machining quality of abrasive suspension jet processing (ASJP), in which scale the surface topography of the processing section can be clearly shown and the material removal mechanism can be easily determined. In this paper, an experiment was carried out that three kinds of materials, Ti-6Al-4V (TC4), marble, and glass, cut by abrasive suspension jet (ASJ) and the microscale surface topography captured by an ultra-deep three-dimensional microscope. The experimental results showed that microscale surface topography of the three materials cut by ASJ is different due to their brittleness and toughness. TC4 cutting surface is covered by long and thin scratches with straight down direction, marble cutting surface is covered by pot holes, and glass cutting surface is covered by both of the scratches and pot holes. The scratches are between 40 and 140 microns in length, while the pot holes are between 10 and 40 microns in width. Moreover, forming mechanism of the three materials’ microscale surface topography is also different due to their brittleness and toughness. The scratch on TC4 cutting surface is the plastic damage caused by the abrasive particles, and the pot hole is the brittle fracture caused by the abrasive particles. Intermediate between brittle and plastic materials, glass cut by ASJ with both plastic damage and brittle fracture. The conclusions can provide theory guidance in material precision processing with ASJ.