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Product profile - Technology
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A potential user must now ask the question:
What advantages does high-pressure water-jet cutting offer over other possible processes?
The big plus of the technology compared to other cutting processes is in the cold cutting process. This is utilized where cut-free, metal-cutting, and thermal processing techniques provide unsatisfactory results or fail for mechanical or physical reasons. Unlike with thermal processes, all materials are cut without the effects of heat with the water jet. This prevents hardening, warping, dripping slag or amalgamation, as well as contamination by pollutants such as noxious gases, for example. These effects frequently occur while laser-cutting artificial materials
and, moreover, need to be mitigated. For sheet metal laminated with plastics, this cutting technique is often the only solution that does not have a negative effect on the outer surface of the laminate.
In addition to this, certain materials, above all those with a greater thickness, will not allow for a qualitatively or quantitatively effective cut using thermal processes. So materials like titanium, stainless steels, copper, and aluminum, for example, create their own problems for anyone using a laser. When processing fiber composite materials or minerals, the coherent light beam fails completely.
The demands for industrial cutting processes have grown enormously in recent years. Not only are higher production figures and better cutting performance required, but also the potential to be able to process very complex forms with a high degree of accuracy and clean cut edges. The water jet does not create any direct surface pressure on the material. The mechanical reactions take place on the microscope level. So, despite the high kinetic energy in the water jet, any
deformation in the material is avoided and a highly precise cut is achieved without fraying or ridges. The cut edges are of an amazingly good quality and do not require any costly post-cut treatment. In addition, the surfaces of the materials being worked are not damaged. The water jet, which is as thin as a hair, creates a minimal incision. As a result of this, there is a much more negligible loss of material than is the case with conventional processes. In addition, this advantage is made most favorable by the optimal interlacing of components.
Water-jet cutting also takes the lead where complex shapes are needed. With the “cold method”, sections of every material can be cut out into any shape desired. Whoever works with a water jet can react flexibly to changing contours and materials. This technique is supremely suitable for the most multifaceted controlled cuts, sharp angles, and beveled edges, as well as minimal inside radii. The ability to start the cutting process at will, as well as direct penetration
into the material, allows universal handling when cutting different types of material. Cutting with the high-pressure water jet is guaranteed to be particularly environmentally friendly. The cutting process is clean, does not create any grinding dust or grit, shavings, or chemical air pollutants. The use of cutting emulsifiers is also not necessary. Optimal utilization of materials by the thinnest slits or seamless interlacing is also a welcome characteristic of water-jet technology with today’s prices of raw materials and other material resources.
And this is how it all works:
When cutting with a water jet, the energy required for cutting is generated by a fluid jet, which flows through a very small gemstone jet nozzle. First, however, the necessary pressure must be created. A core component of the 2D or 3D cutting device is the high-pressure pump, a pressure-routing pump with a primarily oil-hydraulic drive. In the primary cycle, oil pressure is generated by a hydraulic pump. This is transformed into a high water pressure in the secondary
cycle by the action of a transfer plunger.
During continuous operation, the high-pressure pump creates a water pressure of up to 6000 bars, which flows through the water nozzle in the cutter head at about 1000 meters per second. In this way, potential energy is transformed into kinetic energy. As a protection for the high pressure components and the pressure transfer pump, as well as the jet-generating nozzle, filtered cutting water is utilized. The abrasive cutting head with its built-in focusing nozzle is
integrated into the control unit, a robot, or a 2D or 3D portal. The system can also be integrated into a crosscutter, where the material moves under the water jet. The guided computerized numerical control shafts make the three-dimensional cutting process possible. The material being worked lies securely on the cutting grate, and the outline is cut out with the cutter head. This also allows labile, especially soft materials to be cut without contamination.
Textiles, elastomeres, fibrous materials, thinner plastics, foodstuffs, paper, thermoplastics, etc., are cut at a flow velocity of up to 200 meters per minute with a pure water jet. The abrasive cutting process is used for the cutting of compact and hard materials, such as all metals, hard rock, bullet-proof glass, ceramics, etc. Before the focussed water jet makes contract with the material being worked, a cutting medium of the finest grit is introduced to it in a mixing chamber, which results in a microcut. By this, a vacuum is created in the mixing chamber, which is used for the induction of the abrasive medium. After the removal of the abrasive medium from the storage tank, it is introduced into a dispensing apparatus. It is here that the abrasive aggregate needed for the current task of cutting is introduced. The abrasive jet is once again focussed
in the focusing nozzle and directed toward the material being worked.
Fine-grained olivine and granite sands, as well as corundum with an average size of 0.2 to 0.5 millimeters, are typically used as an abrasive. The harder the solid particles are, the better the cutting performance. The components of the abrasive unit consist essentially of the abrasive cutting head, abrasive dispensing system, directed intake and release valve, and the abrasive tank modules for the permanent provision of up to three different cutting mixtures. The elimination
of the residual energy can be achieved during the high-performance abrasive operation by means of an energy absorber (catcher) integrated into the water basin. High-tensile and tempered steels up to 100 millimeters, other metals up to 120 millimeters, non-ferrous metals up to 150 millimeters, soft materials up to 200 millimeters, as well as foam material of up to 300 millimeters, can be cut in this manner. |
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