Machining of advanced engineering materials using traditional and laser techniques

Lightweight structures are increasingly using polymeric materials in their construction. They are low density materials which inherently lack stiffness, reinforcements of various types being employed in order to redress this shortcoming. Unfortunately, the reinforcements used are invariably hard and abrasive, which transform the materials from being easy to machine into materials posing serious problems for conventional machining operations. In addition to traditional machining, a number of technologies have been developed to perform the cutting and drilling operations that are necessary even with modern near-net-shape processing. Water jet, abrasive water jet and lasers have all been employed to perform this function. This paper presents an overview of the state-of-the-art in these emerging technologies when applied to a wide range of matrix reinforcement systems.