The engineering and the manufacturing sphere has always been engaged in a battle to reduce costs, hence, these industries are always on the lookout for an edge for this purpose. The technology running behind the waterjet cutting machine provides a variety of capabilities and advantages that will prove as substantial in the war to lower costs.
Learning more about waterjet cutters and how this technology works will allow us to put their cost-cutting capabilities to our advantage. Beyond its substantial contribution to any cost-cutting measures, the process behind the waterjet cutter is recognized as versatile as versatile can be.
Besides that point, it is also considered among the fastest growing and widely used material cutting processes in the globe. It is because it is taken advantage of in various high production applications, and the material cutting results are always at par with expectations.
Extremely fast water jet cutting machines complement other material cutting technologies we have today including the laser, plasma, EDM, milling, and router cutters. It will not produce nor need noxious gases or liquids. There are no heat-affected zones and will not leave out any traces of mechanical stresses on your waterjet cut surface. It truly is a qualified productive and versatile, cold cutting process.
Advantages of abrasive and waterjet cutting:
- Increased cutting speed
- Decreased wear on pumps and nozzles
- Narrower kerf cutting width
- Improved surface finish
- Decreased abrasive use
- Diminished tendency for a jet to wet substrates
- Decreased taper
The Waterjet Cutting Machine Process
The original method employed by the waterjet machine is just pure waterjet, with no abrasives included. Nothing of that kind. This will utilize the pressurized stream of water in cutting through a material.
Pure, non-abrasive water jet cutting is limited only to materials that come with inherent small cracks in them or softer materials like tissue paper, disposable diapers, and automotive interiors.
This process involves increasing the water pressure by virtue of a high-pressure pump to around 40,000-60,000 PSI. This high-pressure water will force its way via an orifice towards the target material.
Upon striking the surface, the high-pressure water will carry out the machining operation, converting the potential energy residing in the water into kinetic energy thus rendering it possible to achieve the expected “cutting” effect.
The basic process of a waterjet will involve water going from a pump, then will go through plumbing, and then heading out the cutting head.
The material removal process in waterjet cutting can be best described as one supersonic erosion process. Pressure has got nothing to do with it, but the stream velocity will significantly help in tearing away grains or the microscopic pieces of the material.
Pressure and velocity. Both of them are distinct energy forms. The water pressure in the pump will be converted to another energy form, water velocity by virtue of a tiny jewel, with a tiny hole.
The pressurized water will pass that miniscule opening, transforming the pressure into velocity. At around 40,000 psi, the resulting stream will pass through the orifice.