Sustainable solution to low-cost alternative abrasive from electric ceramic insulator waste for use in abrasive water jet machining

Increasing demand and resource overuse has prompted the exploration of spent secondary materials as a primary raw material for a variety of applications, leading to a more sustainable environment. Spent electric grid ceramic insulator, one of the waste materials of ceramic industry, has a good hardness and strength. It can be reused as value-added material in the Abrasive Water Jet Machining (AWJM) industry. The present work deals with the generation of cost-effective replacement material for abrasive water jet machining from electric insulator rejects (EIR). Mechanical crushing method is opted to generate the abrasive grit for the machining process. Grit generation pattern and the friability of the electric insulator rejects were determined experimentally. The results indicate that the friability of the processed electric insulator rejects is comparable with the commercially available garnet abrasive. Geometric parameters such as sphericity, elongation ratio, and shape factor for the processed electric insulator rejects were studied using scanning electron microscopy. The machining performance indicators for standard aluminium material such as volume of material removal, kerf angle, surface roughness, and cutting width were measured for electric insulator rejects and compared with existing garnet abrasive grain. The experimental results of the newly generated electric insulator reject abrasive were compared with the performance indicators of the garnet abrasive. The observed deviation was lower proving that it can be used as an alternative abrasive in the abrasive jet machining process. Cost analysis and recycling ability predict the economical usability of the newly generated abrasives.