Rapid access to or generation of life cycle information is a potentially valuable tool for the design of products to meet the needs of sustainability improvement. A new approach is developed to use the manufacturing unit process, commonly outlined in manufacturing process taxonomy systems, as the basis for life cycle inventory. This will initially involve 50–70 unit processes from the taxonomy and will generate energy and mass profiles for each unit process life cycle (uplci). These uplci can be adjusted for each case to include the major variables affecting such operations as related to any specific product. The sum of the performance of a sequence of uplci thus provides the life cycle of the specific product from a defined set of plant process inputs.
The use of fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) composites in the aircraft and automotive industries exponentially. Reinforced fibers which are abrasive in nature make it hard to machine by the traditional machining. Dissipation of heat into workpiece which in turn results in enhanced cutting tool wear and damage to the workpiece is the common problems faced in traditional machining of FRPs. Nontraditional machining is favorable to reduce these issues. Abrasive waterjet machining (AWJM) is one of the best choices for machining FRPs. Development in AWJM of FRPs and the current research in this field will be discussed in details. Machining process of FRPs, quality dependents such as surface finish and variable cutting parameters will be addressed. One of main issues in AWJM noise due to high flow rate of water jet will be addressed. The importance of human safety aspects when AWJM is employed will be highlighted. Limitations and challenges in AWJM are presented elaborately.
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