| In
nature, the power of water in the form of erosion has already been
active for millions of years. The first industrial use of water jets
was seen over 100 years ago for the mining of gravel & clay deposits
- and this fledgling technology was refined by American and Soviet
engineers in the 1930's who used high-speed jets for the removal of
rocks, minerals, and coal. Development of high-pressure water-jet
cutting - also simply called jet cutting, continued throughout the
mid 20th century. However, the main impetus for use of this technique
as a tool in manufacturing arose at the end of the 1960's within aircraft
construction and the aerospace industries. |
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The
introduction of high performance composite, laminated and honeycomed
materials used in military and civil aircraft applications required
equally advanced production processes. Traditional mechanical cutting
methods, cropping and welding would destroy the structual integrity
of such materials. Likewise, existing thermal processes such as laser
or plasma cutting would deform the edges of cut components - and could
also create stress, microfissures and structural changes. |
| The
inherent advantages of Water-Jet cutting were considered ideal for
use in these manufacturing processes. The cold cutting method not
only maintained the structural integrity of these materials, but did
so without contamination of gasses and pollutants. In addition, the
hair thin water jet does not create any direct surface pressure on
the material - and therefore is also seen as the most effective way
of cutting complex shapes to the highest tollerances. The further
development of cutting heads using pure or abrasive jets ensured that
this technique rapidly became the most reliable cutting method available. |
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290mm thick Aluminium |
Although
the early machines were very expensive and use limited to specialised
applications, the consistant development of this technology into the
21st Century has provided manufacturing industry with the most cost
effective and high capacity cutting process for any type of material
or component. The continuing advances in robotics have provided the
latest equipment from WaterJet Sweden with unrivalled performance
and useability. |
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