Abrasive Water Jet Polishing on Zr-Based Bulk Metallic Glass

This study investigates the optimal abrasive water jet polishing parameters for Zr-based bulk metallic glass (BMG) material by using the Taguchi method. An abrasive water jet polishing (AWJP) system is newly designed and mounted on a machining center. In order to determine the optimal polishing parameters for the Zr-based BMG sample, six polishing parameters, namely the hydraulic pressure, the impact angle, the standoff distance, the abrasive material, the abrasive concentration, and the polishing time, are chosen as the control factors of experiments. The optimal AWJP parameters are determined after carrying out the experiments based on the Taguchi’s L18 orthogonal array experimental results. These optimal parameters are the combination of the hydraulic pressure of 2 kg/cm2, the impact angle of 30o, the standoff distance of 15 mm, the abrasive material of SiC, the abrasive concentration of 1:5, and the polishing time of 60 minutes. The surface roughness is improved from an initial value of Ra = 0.675μm to a final value of Ra = 0.016μm by using the AWJP optimal parameters.