DEFENCE INDUSTRY WATER JET CUTTER APPLICATIONS
As a result of the versatility of water jet cutters to cut a wide range of materials, from Kevlar composites used in personnel and vehicle armour to heavy plate steel in thicknesses up to 250mm, Water Jet Sweden has developed strong partnerships within the defence industry.
One of these partnerships, with Thyssen Krupp owned specialist boat builder Kockums, saw the design of the world’s largest water jet cutting area (at 15.5m x 6.5m), complete with 5-Axis capability from BevelJet™, Twin head cutting, inkjet marking and automatic drilling head. This system was used to cut a variety of composite panels in thickness up to 100mm for the assembly and manufacture of military stealth technology patrol boats. The system automatically marks the panels with inkjet to indicate part numbers and accurately produce lines where other panels are to be bonded prior to profile cutting.
In other water jet cutting applications, heavy armour plate is being profiled complete with weld preparations and countersink holes using BevelJet™ technology, thus avoiding additional handling, lead time and cost by transferring heavy plates onto large milling machines as was previously the case.
