Damage study of fiber-reinforced composites drilled by abrasive waterjet —challenges and opportunities

Owing to their excellent properties such as lightweight and high strength, fiber-reinforced composite materials are widely used as ideal materials for key structural components in extreme service environments (e.g., aviation, aerospace, and nuclear power). However, due to their non-uniformity and anisotropy, they have become typical difficult-to-machine materials, which are prone to cause damage during machining, thereby reducing the service life of the entire component. This review primarily summarizes the damage (including delamination, thermal damage, tool wear, and other processing damages) and suppression strategies of scholars in the process of traditional and non-traditional machining of fiber-reinforced composite materials in the past few years. Besides reviewing the research progress, the limitations of the current research were presented. From this review, it can be seen that traditional and non-traditional (e.g., laser machining) machining methods are difficult to avoid damage. Abrasive waterjet (AWJ) machining is a green and environmentally friendly machining technology. Some key issues are expected to be furtherly solved during the AWJ drilling of fiber-reinforced composite materials with low damage.