Waterjet Cutting Technology

Waterjet cutting technology is extensively applied in machining materials, like steel, copper aluminum, glass, ceramics, carbide alloy, plastics, artificial fiber, cloth, paper and composite. It can also be used for structural parts or welded assembly. Waterjet system is widely used in equipment manufacturing industries, such as aerospace, military, railway, ship, automobile, engineering mechanism, light industry, chemical industry, energy, architecture engineering field, etc.

Advantages

1. Comparison between Waterjet Cutting and Laser Cutting

Laser cutting equipment requires large investment and it is usually used to cut steel sheet. The cutting speed is fast and precision is high, but there will be the crater in the kerf, which will result in heat effect. Besides, laser cutting is not ideal for cutting nonferrous metal, like aluminum, cooper, alloy, etc. The kerf is not ideal especially when the metal’s thickness is over 10 mm. The current research on high-power laser generator aims at solving the cutting problem of heavy steel plates, but the cost of investment, operation and service is high. Waterjet system enjoys the advantages of low investment, low operation cost, wide application scope, high efficiency and convenient maintenance.

2. Comparison between Waterjet Cutting and Plasma Cutting

Plasma cutting has obvious heating effect and low precision, and the kerf is hard for secondary operation. Waterjet system is operated in cold state without any thermal distortion, and the kerf is fine. There is no need to cut for machining for twice, and it is very easy for secondary operation.

3. Comparison of Waterjet Cutting and Linear Cutting

Linear cutting has higher precision in machining metals but the cutting speed is slow. Sometimes, perforation, threading and other methods are required before cutting. The cutting dimension is largely restricted. Waterjet system can punch and cut any materials with high cutting speed and flexible cutting dimensions.