Abrasive waterjet cutting is an extremely powerful cutter primarily used for tough materials such as stainless steel. In fact, it cuts almost any material, which makes it an extremely useful tool.
However, you are probably wondering exactly how it works and how quick abrasive waterjet cutting is. Not only is understanding how an abrasive waterjet cutter works important for deriving the highest level of performance from it, but it also helps you understand whether it is the best cutter for your requirements.
After all, it isn’t the only cutter on the market - with pure water jets another popular choice. Therefore, finding out more about the speed and efficiency of abrasive cutters is extremely useful.
This is what you need to know:
An abrasive water jet works by placing an abrasive material in the mixing chamber, which creates high-pressure water. This cutting method is valuable because it operates at a comparatively high speed compared to other waterjet cutting machines like pure water variants.
High-pressure water is fed into the cutting head through stainless steel piping to break the cutting process into more detail. The water is then concentrated into a thin stream thanks to a diamond, ruby, or sapphire orifice. In the mixing chamber, the cutting tool adds abrasives to the water. This water - mixed with an abrasive particle - then shoots out the cutting head, providing an incredibly powerful cutting method.
This makes it suitable for a wide variety of cutting applications. If you would like to find out more, contact us.
Of course, abrasive cutters are not the only form of waterjet cutting machine. Another form of water jet cutting is the pure water variant, which is typically used for softer materials. There is often an argument about abrasive vs. pure water in cutting circles, but they serve different purposes.
While abrasive cutters can be seen as the jackhammers of the cutting world, pure water jets are the scalpel. They are used for precision cutting on softer materials and are extremely useful. It just depends on the cutting techniques required.
Abrasive waterjet cutters are typically used to cut through tough materials - such as metal, wood, stone, plastics, ceramics, and rubber. Given that the range of potential use cases includes cutting through bullet-proof glass or uneven surfaces, there are a huge number of industries that use them.
This includes the aerospace industry, the military, and countless factory-based sectors.
One of the many benefits of using an abrasive waterjet cutter is that it is incredibly quick and efficient, despite the thickness of the materials it cuts through.
However, it is also worth noting that pure water jets have their benefits too. They produce extremely little heat or waste and are essentially a green technology (which is great if you are trying to reduce your carbon footprint). They are highly accurate and can be used even in tight or difficult-to-access spaces
