A water jet is not just a water jet. NOVAJET has developed a new system technology that enables economically and ecologically sensible precision machining of high-performance materials using the water jet.

High-performance materials and the demand for customer-specific products are leading to a continuous increase in the use of waterjet cutting in industrial parts production.

The operating principle is based on the acceleration of fine-grained cutting particles by the carrier medium water to supersonic speed.

In the standard industrial process (Fig. below, left), particle acceleration takes place in a subsequent step after the formation of the high-speed water jet. This method of particle acceleration is known as the injection jet principle. 

If the particles are already mixed into the cutting water before the high pressure is generated and then accelerated together, energy losses can be eliminated and the jet diameter can be further reduced (Fig. below, right). This is known as the innovative suspension jet process.

• Cold cutting process → No heat-affected zone, no distortion of the material
• High precision → Fine and complex cuts possible
• No post-processing required → No burr formation, no delamination on composite materials
• Variety of materials → Cuts metals, ceramics, glass, stone, fibre composites and much more
• No structural changes → Particularly suitable for temperature-sensitive materials
• Maximum material utilisation → Particularly relevant for high-end materials

With a pressure of up to 6000 bar, water is forced through a fine nozzle. However, a water jet is not sufficient to process hard materials by itself. In a mixing chamber located downstream of the water nozzle, the high jet velocity (more than three times the speed of sound) of the water jet creates an underpressure that entrains abrasive particles (e.g. garnet sand) and accelerates them in a so-called focusing tube.

The abrasive water jet then hits the workpiece and removes the material by micro-erosion.

• Productivity increase of more than 300 percent compared to conventional waterjet technology
• Production of extremely filigree contours on high-performance materials thanks to reduced jet diameters of up to 0.2 millimetres with significantly higher performance
• Shortening of process chains thanks to new processing options
• Universal application for various machining tasks (cutting, structuring, drilling, rounding)
• energy-efficient and resource-saving, fully integrated system technology (incl. high-pressure pump) on a footprint of 2.5 square metres 

The main part of the high-pressure suspension jet process is a high-pressure vessel that stores the slurry of water and abrasive. By means of flow mechanisms, the pressurised slurry is directed to the cutting nozzle where it is accelerated. In contrast to the conventional injection principle, the suspension jet requires no air in the cutting jet for the specific process. This allows a significantly more powerful jet with a reduced diameter to be generated.

By reducing the jet diameter down to 0.2 millimetres, it is possible to produce the most filigree, as yet unmanufacturable contours on high-performance materials.

The suspension jet process contributes to the energy efficiency of the entire system technology thanks to minimal energy losses during jet generation. As a result, the system technology only needs a reduced drive power to generate a maximum water pressure of 1500 bar (in comparison: injector jet > 3000 bar) with an increase in machine productivity of over 300 percent compared to the conventional injector jet!

The suspension jet process enables completely new component geometries in the high-performance range. It increases efficiency and blasting stability and opens up new fields of application, such as the processing of sintered technical ceramics, carbide or fibre composite materials.