An Assessment of Single- and Three-Layer Wood-Plastic Composite Hole-Machining Using Abrasive Waterjet Cutting

Kunlapat Thongkaew; Thanate Ratanawilai; Luksika Peter; Zaleha Mustafa

doi:10.48084/etasr.16707

Authors

Kunlapat Thongkaew Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand | Smart Industrial Research Center, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand
Thanate Ratanawilai Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand | Smart Industrial Research Center, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7626-1774
Luksika Peter Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Songkhla, Thailand
Zaleha Mustafa Faculty of Industrial and Manufacturing Technology and Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya, Durian Tunggal, Melaka, Malaysia https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9057-2373

Volume: 16 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 33985-33992 | April 2026 | https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.16707

Received: 4 December 2025 | Revised: 30 January 2026 | Accepted: 11 February 2026 | Online: 4 April 2026

Corresponding author: Kunlapat Thongkaew

Abstract

Wood-Plastic Composites (WPCs) are commonly used in furniture and structural applications. However, forming-based fabrication limits the production of complex shapes. Therefore, post-machining operations, such as hole machining, are required for WPCs, and achieving high machining quality remains challenging owing to the unique properties and layered structures of materials. Therefore, the novelty of this study lies in assessing the machinability of Abrasive WaterJet (AWJ) cutting as an effective non-traditional machining method for hole fabrication in single-layer and three-layer WPCs, comparing its performance with WaterJet (WJ) cutting and conventional drilling. The effects of water pressure, traverse speed, abrasive mass flow rate, and hole diameter on the roundness and machined surface quality were investigated experimentally. The results show that AWJ successfully produced through-cut holes in both WPC structures, whereas pure WJ achieved complete cuts mainly at 350 MPa water pressure due to insufficient cutting energy at lower pressure to surpass the material’s hardness. According to response optimization, the proposed AWJ parameters are an abrasive mass flow rate of 6.67 g/s, a water pressure of 350 MPa, and a traverse speed of 30 mm/s, yielding a high desirability index of 0.848. A regression model was developed to predict roundness, and its validation revealed a small difference of 3.19% between the predicted and actual values. Compared to traditional hole drilling, AWJ offers shorter processing times and greater flexibility in hole size without requiring tool changes, although it results in larger hole roundness quality, which remains acceptable for clearance-fit applications. These findings highlight the potential of AWJ as an attractive option for machining WPCs.

Keywords:

wood plastic composites, hole-machining, abrasive waterjet cutting, drill bit

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Z. Mitaľová, D. Mitaľ, and K. Berladir, "A Concise Review of the Components and Properties of Wood–Plastic Composites," Polymers, vol. 16, no. 11, May 2024, Art. no. 1556. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16111556

M. A. Zuraik, S. A. Sobri, N. A. N. Abdullah, A. Hermawan, M. Mohamed, and N. A. Shuaib, "Preliminary Investigation of Delamination Factor for Drilling Wood Plastic Composites (WPC)," IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science, vol. 596, Dec. 2020, Art. no. 012013. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/596/1/012013

B. Bedelean, M. Ispas, S. Răcășan, and M. N. Baba, "Optimization of Wood Particleboard Drilling Operating Parameters by Means of the Artificial Neural Network Modeling Technique and Response Surface Methodology," Forests, vol. 13, no. 7, July 2022, Art. no. 1045. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f13071045

S. Ahmad Sobri, T. Ping Chow, T. Koon Tatt, M. H. Nordin, A. Hermawan, and M. N. Norizan, "Experimental investigation and predictive modelling of CO2 laser processing of wood-plastic composites (WPCs)," Results in Engineering, vol. 27, Sept. 2025, Art. no. 106708. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2025.106708

S. A. Sobri et al., "Optimization and Validation of CO2 Laser-Machining Parameters for Wood–Plastic Composites (WPCs)," Polymers, vol. 17, no. 16, Aug. 2025, Art. no. 2216. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17162216

Jagadish and K. Gupta, Abrasive Water Jet Machining of Engineering Materials, 1st ed. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2020. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-36001-6

S. Boopathi, A. Thillaivanan, M. A. Azeem, P. Shanmugam, and V. R. Pramod, "Experimental investigation on abrasive water jet machining of neem wood plastic composite," Functional Composites and Structures, vol. 4, no. 2, Apr. 2022, Art. no. 025001. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1088/2631-6331/ac6152

L. Peter, T. Ratanawilai, and K. Thongkaew, "Application of Abrasive Water Jet Cutting on Rubber Wood Plastic Composites," Journal of Advanced Research in Applied Mechanics, vol. 124, no. 1, pp. 127–140, Aug. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.37934/aram.124.1.127140

B. R. N. Murthy et al., "Optimization of Process Parameters to Minimize the Surface Roughness of Abrasive Water Jet Machined Jute/Epoxy Composites for Different Fiber Inclinations," Journal of Composites Science, vol. 7, no. 12, Dec. 2023, Art. no. 498. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/jcs7120498

M. S. Kvietková, O. Dvořák, C.-F. Lin, D. Jones, P. Ptáček, and R. Fojtík, "Influence of Abrasive Flow Rate and Feed Rate on Jet Lag During Abrasive Water Jet Cutting of Beech Plywood," Applied Sciences, vol. 15, no. 15, Aug. 2025, Art. no. 8687. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/app15158687

Z. Mitaľová, F. Botko, R. Vandžura, J. Litecká, D. Mitaľ, and V. Simkulet, "Machining of Wood Plastic Composite Using AWJ Technology with Controlled Output Quality," Machines, vol. 10, no. 7, July 2022, Art. no. 566. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/machines10070566

K. Thongkaew, J. Wang, and W. Li, "An investigation of the hole machining processes on woven carbon-fiber reinforced polymers (CFRPs) using abrasive waterjets," Machining Science and Technology, vol. 23, no. 1, pp. 19–38, Jan. 2019. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10910344.2018.1449217

K. Siva Prasad and G. Chaitanya, "Influence of abrasive water jet machining process parameters on accuracy of hole dimensions in glass fiber reinforced polymer composites," Materials Today: Proceedings, vol. 98, pp. 135–142, Jan. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matpr.2023.10.034

R. R. Ravi, T. N. D. Kumar, and D. S. Srinivasu, "Enhancing abrasive waterjet trepanned hole geometry using a through-kerf prediction model informed sequential machining," CIRP Journal of Manufacturing Science and Technology, vol. 60, pp. 138–152, Sept. 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cirpj.2025.04.013

K. D. Panchal et al., "Predictive Modeling and Experimental Validation of the Penetration Depth in Abrasive Water Jet Machining," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 15, no. 5, pp. 27213–27218, Oct. 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.12050

J. Promjan, T. Ratanawilai, and C. Homkhiew, "The property of sandwich-structure rubberwood-plastic composites with different plastic core layer," The Journal of KMUTNB, vol. 32, no. 3, pp. 700–711, July 2022. DOI: https://doi.org/10.14416/j.kmutnb.2021.11.009

J. Xu et al., "Mechanical properties, morphology, and creep resistance of ultra-highly filled bamboo fiber/polypropylene composites: Effects of filler content and melt flow index of polypropylene," Construction and Building Materials, vol. 310, Dec. 2021, Art. no. 125289. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2021.125289

"Drills LSD (Extra-long), Mitsubishi Materials." https://www.mitsubishicarbide.net/mht/enuk/drilling/10000483.

ASME Y14.5-2018, (Revision of ASME Y14.5-2009): Dimensioning and tolerancing. New York, USA: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 2018.

ISO 21920-2:2021, Geometrical product specifications (GPS) — Surface texture: Profile, Part 2: Terms, definitions and surface texture parameters. International Organization for Standardization, 2021.

A. Rowe et al., "Effects of Abrasive Waterjet Machining on the Quality of the Surface Generated on a Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer Composite," Machines, vol. 11, no. 7, July 2023, Art. no. 749. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/machines11070749

M. Monno and C. Ravasio, "The effect of cutting head vibrations on the surfaces generated by waterjet cutting," International Journal of Machine Tools and Manufacture, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 355–363, Mar. 2005. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijmachtools.2004.07.010

X. Guo, J. Wang, D. Buck, Z. Zhu, and Y. Guo, "Machinability of wood fiber/polyethylene composite during orthogonal cutting," Wood Science and Technology, vol. 55, no. 2, pp. 521–534, Mar. 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00226-020-01256-4

ISO 286-2:2010, Geometrical product specifications (GPS) — ISO code system for tolerances on linear sizes, Part 2: Tables of standard tolerance classes and limit deviations for holes and shafts. International Organization for Standardization, 2010.

M. Boujelbene, "Process Capability and Average Roughness in Abrasive Water Jet Cutting Process of Stainless Steel," Engineering, Technology & Applied Science Research, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 2931–2936, June 2018. DOI: https://doi.org/10.48084/etasr.2047

C. Baykara, "Experimental investigation of the parameters affecting the surface roughness of materials with different thicknesses by abrasive water jetting: Polymer, composite and elastomer materials," Niğde Ömer Halisdemir Üniversitesi Mühendislik Bilimleri Dergisi, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 458–472, Apr. 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28948/ngumuh.1594355

M. Sundarapandiyan, K. Palanikumar, N. Senthilkumar, and B. Latha, "Artificial intelligence-based optimization and response surface analysis of thrust force and torque in drilling wood – thermoplastic composite (WPC) panels," Wood Material Science & Engineering, pp. 1–19, Sept. 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17480272.2025.2551740

S. Zhang, Z. Zhang, L. Lu, Z. Wang, and P. Yao, "Overview on material removal mechanisms and surface textures modelling in abrasive jet machining processes," The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 137, no. 7, pp. 3165–3213, Apr. 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00170-025-15300-9