Overview Of CNC Water Jet Cutting

With the development of science and technology, there are many new types of CNC cutting methods for CNC lathe machining. We will introduce CNC water jet cutting in this paper. Let’s see.

Working Principle Of   

Ultra-High Pressure Water Jet Cutting Machine

The basic working principle of high-pressure water jet machining technology is using the principle of liquid pressurization, which can turn by a specific device (supercharger or high-pressure pump), the power source (motor) can convert the mechanical energy of water pressure, has the huge pressure to water after through the small hole nozzle, pressure can change into kinetic energy, again to form a high-speed water jet, jet to the surface, When the water jet impinges on the cut workpiece, the kinetic energy is transformed into pressure energy acting on the material. If the pressure energy exceeds the damage strength of the material, the material can be cut off to achieve the purpose of removing the material. Therefore, a high-pressure water jet is often called a high-speed water jet. 

The specific working principle of ultra-high pressure water jet cutting machine is to filter ordinary water, and then through a super-high pressure supercharger step by step, pressurizing the water flow to about 200 ~ 400MPa, Then through a nozzle with a diameter of 0.1 ~ 0.3mm (generally made of sapphire) to form a jet line with a velocity of up to 1000m/s (about 3 times the speed of sound) and great kinetic energy. This water beam is like a cutting tool, which is required under the control of a NUMERICAL control system.

Composition Of Water Jet Cutting Lathe

A CNC ultra-high pressure water jet cutting machine consists of an ultra-high pressure water jet generator system, water knife cutting head device, CNC cutting platform, CNC system, and its auxiliary devices. The high-pressure part is the heart of the water jet cutting machine, and the NUMERICAL control part is the brain of the water jet cutting machine.

Characteristics Of Ultra-High Pressure Water

Jet Cutting Machine

Cutting quality is excellent, and processing quality is high. Water jet cutting is an advanced "cold cutting"  processing technology. Water knife cutting processing almost no heat, and no thermal impact on the workpiece material, so the workpiece will not produce heat affected area and thermal deformation, and will not cause the material structure to change or metamorphic, which is particularly beneficial to the processing of heat-sensitive materials such as titanium alloy.

High production efficiency. Water knife cutting speed, high efficiency, and low processing cost. High-pressure water jet technology is highly efficient and can concentrate a large amount of energy in a small area because high-pressure water can produce a high amount of energy after passing through a small diameter nozzle.

Wide adaptability of workpiece materials. Because ultra-high pressure water jet cutting is almost "invincible", there are almost no material and cutting size restrictions, known as the "universal cutting machine".

Highly flexible. Can cut any contour, cut point and endpoint can be selected at any point on the workpiece surface, can make a full range of cutting, can start from any point, no cutting direction restrictions, can cut out any complex graphics, can complete a variety of special-shaped processing, including a variety of shapes, angles or gradients, and the program is easy to edit.

Good working environment, safe and reliable operation. Water knife is safe, water knife nozzle from the cutting material distance of  2-3mm, ordinary people's hands are difficult to reach below. Because its working medium is water in the cutting process no dust, no environmental pollution, no noise, and no public hazard.

Low processing cost. No need for edging and other secondary processing, no need for coolant, and can save time and reduce manufacturing costs.

Environmental protection. Cutting water and abrasive sources are sufficient. The working medium of a high-pressure water jet is water. People know that water resource is a renewable and pollution-free resources.

Applications Of Ultra-High Pressure Water Jet Cutting

At present,  ultra-high pressure water jet cutting technology is widely applied to materials of ceramic, stone, cement, paper, food, plastic, cloth, PU, wood, leather, chemical fiber, rubber, glass, metal, hard alloy, steel, titanium alloy, tungsten molybdenum cobalt alloy, composite material (such as fiber-reinforced metal matrix, and fiber-reinforced rubber), stainless steel, aluminum alloy, high silicon cast iron and malleable cast iron and other materials for arbitrary graphic plane cutting. Because ultra-high pressure water jet cutting is almost "invincible", for those materials that are difficult to cut by other methods, such as titanium alloy and a variety of composite materials, it is a very ideal processing method.