Water jet cutting

Type of technology

Abrasive jet machining

Development phase

advanced

Level of innovation

Scale of production

batch

Technology readiness level TRL

Description of the technology

Waterjet cutting is a subtractive manufacturing process that uses a highly compressed jet of water at very high speed (more than three times the speed of sound in air).

The water jet removes the cut material from the cutting gap by erosion and shearing. If abrasive powder is also used, the cohesion of the workpiece material is also broken by micromachining. During the process, the water jet passes through the water nozzle and draws the abrasive into the mixing chamber. The water and abrasive then enter the hydroabrasive nozzle and are formed. The water jet is used to accelerate the abrasive grains, which reach speeds in excess of 300 m/s.

Purpose of use

finish cutting, gouging out shapes of any geometry (along a straight path, a curved path and in 3D space), cutting out shapes of any geometry (along a straight path, a curved path and in 3D space)

Use in industry

all industries, especially aviation, automotive, machine, mining, paper, textile, electronic, building, medical and art

Alternative technologies

plasma arc machining
laser beam machining
thermal oxygen cutting
arc cutting

Visualisation of action

Advantages

possibility of effective and precise cutting of materials up to 200 mm thick
low surface roughness and fairly high dimensional accuracy
no intensive heating and deformation of the workpiece material during machining (preservation of unchanged mechanical and structural properties of the cut surface)
no charring when cutting flammable materials

Disadvantages

relatively high investment and tooling costs
moderate cutting speed and process efficiency
relatively high waste generation

Workpiece material types

steel
cast iron
non-ferrous metals

Examples of products

metal flat bars
gears
connecting elements for various types of machinery
intricate details of surgical implants
details of medical instruments and diagnostic equipment components
details of knives and molds for the manufacture of glass machines or glass processing components

Implementation of the technology

Required resources

water jet
tooling
abrasive powder

Required competences

training in erosion machining and abrasive blasting
extensive practical experience in subtractive manufacturing
training in CNC machine programming

Environmental aspects

Water consumption

Energy consumption

Waste generated

Expert evaluation

Competitiveness

Usability

Environmental impact

Development centers

Opole University of Technology
Poznan University of Technology

Legal conditions

none