## 2 Materials and Methods  
In this work, AISI 304L was investigated. Austenitic stainless steel grades, such as 304L, are characterised as the most corrosion-resistant among other steel grades with high formability, ductility, and weldability because they contain a high percentage of chromium and nickel content [1]. This is the reason behind gaining higher volumes in a variety of manufacturing settings. This rising market demand has led to further studies aimed at achieving greater efficiency in the quality of cut during the machining process of abrasive waterjet. The chemical composition and mechanical properties of AISI 304L are detailed in Table 1. The material thicknesses applied within this study were 4, 8, and 12 mm, with a uniform gap to observe the relative differences in AWJM behaviour towards this material. This experiment was conducted on an abrasive waterjet contour-cutting operation to investigate the impacts of traverse speed. An abrasive waterjet machine, model OMAX MAXIEM 1515, was used for contour cutting of the AISI 304L material. The machine has a built-in PC-based CAD/CAM with many distinct programming features including: adjustment of cutting model; six levels of quality; estimating the time needed for machining; generating data and reports; forming and tracking several sites, and rotating, ascending, reversing, and counterpoising. The specifications of the machine are further detailed in Table 2 and the corresponding set-up for experiments is illustrated in Figure 2[23]. As presented in Figure 2a, the abrasive waterjet machine generates high-pressure water from the pump machine, which is then driven to the nozzle system. The nozzle system includes an abrasive hopper, an orifice, a mixing chamber, and a focusing tube. The water, travelling with a high level of velocity, is forced out of the orifice in a very thin stream structure [27]. The hopper consists of a plastic tube holding the abrasive particles and dispensing them to the cutting head, where the abrasive particles are drawn into a waterjet stream in the mixing chamber. The high-speed waterjet together with the abrasive particles are then mixed and accelerated to create an abrasive waterjet [27]. The workpiece is secured in a clamping tool to hold it in position during machining, as shown in Figure 2b. This is done to preclude the possibility of deflection during cutting \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Chemical** & **Carbon** & **Silicon** & **Manganese** & **Phosphorus** & **Sulphur** & **Nickel** & **Chromium** & **Nitrogen** \\ \hline \multirow{3}{*}{Mechanical} & 0.03 & 0.75 & 2.00 & 0.045 & 0.03 & 8.00–0.50 & 18–20 & 0.10 \\  & 0.2\% Proof Stress & & 205 & & Elongation\% & & 40 \\ \cline{1-1}  & \multicolumn{3}{c}{Tensile Strength _Mpa_} & 520–750 & Hardness Brinell (HB) Max & 202 \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Chemical and mechanical properties of AISI 304L in wt%. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Parameters** & **Range** \\ \hline Max Pressure (MPa) & 413.7 (4137 bar) \\ Max Traverse Speed (mm/min) & 12,700 (500 in/min) \\ Table Size (L \(\times\) W) (mm) & 2235 \(\times\) 1727 \\ XY Cutting Envelope (mm) & 1575 \(\times\) 1575 \\ Z-Axis travel (mm) & 305 \\ Max cut depth (mm) & 152 (6 in) of mild steel \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Abrasive Waterjet Machine MAXIEM 1515 (OMAX Corp., Kent, WA, USA) specifications. as the abrasive loaded stream meets the surface of the workpiece. Additionally, the stable plane of the workpiece material is fixed so that the kerf profile is not disrupted. The cutting path used in this study is illustrated in Table 3. According to [PERSON] et al. [28], a specified length of straight cut profile ranging from 10 to 40 mm is sufficient to achieve a stable phase of traverse speed covering the acceleration and deceleration phase.