Various industries are realizing the benefits that come with a high-pressure water jet. As among the fastest-growing precision machines today, waterjet technology enables many industries to benefit from efficiency gains and achieve high productivity while being environmentally sustainable and cost-effective.
Why Waterjet
There are a lot of reasons one can use a waterjet for cutting materials. But the precision of the waterjet is what makes it stand out among other cutting techniques.
Precision is important when it comes to manufacturing for customer satisfaction and product durability. Traditional cutting techniques, such as laser cutting or plasma, can’t achieve the high precision that waterjet cutting can.
Waterjet also stands out because of its versatility. Unlike other methods of cutting that work best with some metals, waterjet may create a perfect cut in almost all materials. This versatility allows users in various industries to use waterjet cutters as an important asset in their work.
Waterjet Cutting Process
Waterjet cutting refers to manufacturing using a high-pressure jet of water that pressurizing pumps provide. The water inside the water jet cutting gets pressurized to 392 MPa and then projected using a nozzle. When the water leaves a small precision nozzle, it will reach a speed three times the sound’s speed.
Waterjet cutting with water as the medium is designed for most soft materials, like rubber, paper, foam, plastics, and wood. When abrasive is included in the water stream, including concrete, ceramic material, glass, aluminum, stainless steel, and titanium, cutting becomes aggressive and gets the capability of cutting complex and hard metals.
How It Works
In the case of applications on complex and harder materials, waterjet is often mixed with natural and eco-friendly abrasive power. Waterjet technology is known for its user-friendliness, cutting precision and high versatility.
And because it is a cold process of cutting, waterjet technology doesn’t produce thermal or mechanical deformations on materials. Not to mention, it doesn’t need additional processing as the surfaces of cut contours are perfectly finished, and the entire process is completely sustainable.
Industrial Applications
The ability of waterjet to cut a vast of materials makes it a preferred choice in many industrial sectors. The following are some of the sectors using waterjet technology for their needs:
- Aviation and aerospace. The aviation and aerospace industry uses waterjet machines to create components for jet engines and composite materials that aircraft need. Waterjet cutting remains a precise method to cut complex shapes from materials such as composites, aluminum, and titanium. This process may also be used in cutting up to 12 inches thick.
- Electronics. Microelectronic and electronic components are sensitive to heat. Their properties may change if a heat-affected zone is created. That is why highly precise cold-cutting methods, such as waterjet cutting, are required in electronics.
- Automotive. A pure waterjet cut is an idea for cutting interior components, such as insulation and carpets. Abrasive waterjet cutters can also come in handy for cutting exterior components, including metal body panels.
Final Touches
Waterjet cutters provide many benefits over other techniques. Their versatility and precision in dealing with different materials make waterjet cutters widely used in different sectors, including aerospace, automotive, and electronics.
