Mitigation of Edge Fracture in Tempered Glass During Abrasive Water Jet Cutting

When an 8 mm-thick glass hob plate is cut in a circular shape using high-pressure abrasive water jet cutting in two distinct sizes, it leads to issues such as breakage and burr formation along the edges. As a result, a secondary grinding process becomes necessary, which not only wastes time but also drives up the cost. Additionally, this process increases the amount of scrap material produced. The goal of this research is to optimize the cutting process by experimentally determining the parameters that affect the edge quality of the 8 mm-thick glass, specifically after adjusting the diagonality of a CNC abrasivewater jet cutting machine to improve the circularity of the cut. Various tests were conducted under different pressures, flow rates, nozzle types, orifice sizes, and garnet abrasives. The findings revealed that the most efficient and defect-free cutting conditions were achieved with a 2000 bar pressure, 0.4 kg/m abrasive flow rate, 0.76 mm nozzle, 0.25 mm orifice, 120 mesh garnet abrasive, and a cutting speed of 1000 mm/min.