Abrasives

This Abrasives information site has been created to provide information and assist you in the location of Abra Power who supply such goods. Please follow the link to the home page

www.abrapower.co.uk

Abrasives waterjet technology is a relatively new abrasives technology that was first introduced in the United States in 1984 by Flow International, a spin off company of Waterjet Technology Inc. Because high pressure water can be effective for cleaning, a portion of the waterjet industry fits with the blast cleaning industry, grouped with air-abrasive cleaning applications. High pressure water cuts many materials effectively and is used extensively by the food and paper industry. Most headliners for new cars, for example, are cut with this waterjet technology. Mix abrasives with high pressure water and you have an effective tool to cut metals and non-metal materials. This is the abrasives waterjet technology covered by this page. This type of application is typified by products of Flow International

Abrasive waterjet methods can be theoretically divided into entrainment systems and abrasive slurry systems. The key difference between the two technologies rests on how the abrasives is added to water. An entrained system pressurizes water and pulls abrasive particles into the rapidly moving stream on exit. The mixture of water and abrasives is focused in a mixture tube and directed at the work piece. An abrasive slurry system mixes water and abrasive before the water is pressurized. Lower pressures, very high material removal rates, and less expensive equipment are advantages of this type of system. The chief disadvantage is the wear on all parts of the system. Wear in an entrained waterjet system is limited to the mixing tube portion of the waterjet head.

Abrasive slurry waterjet was first popularized by the British Hydraulics Research Group which established the name DIAJET for the technology. Generally slurry systems have less precision and are more commonly used for rough cutting processes where the high material removal rates and cool cutting are important attributes.