Cutting Composite Materials with Water Jet Cutters
Less Tool Wear And Almost Any Shape
Today composites come in many forms from a wide range of materials with different characteristics including: Kevlar, carbon fibre, fibre glass, non-woven materials, composite resins and foams, carbon fibre reinforced plastic etc. Despite the increased use for composite materials in many industries there are few machine tools that are really suitable for processing them with one particular challenge being tool wear. Water jet cutting is widely recognised as the best alternative for composite processing thanks to less tool wear and the option to cut almost any shape.
An abrasive waterjet’s supersonic erosion can cut nearly any material, and the low contact force eliminates the need for bulky tooling. Modern materials such as carbon fibre composites like GRP (GFRP), CFRP (CRP), and carbon fibre-reinforced carbon (C/C) can be cut without any dust or gas being emitted.
The finely focused waterjet beam, cuts reliably and precisely in any direction to incredible detail. Composites made up of a variety of very different materials such as metal and rubber can be cut in one operation and waterjet cutting will rarely cause cracking, fraying or delamination with the most efficient cutting process dependent on the material – Abrasive Water Jet Cutting (AWJ), Fine Abrasive Water Jet cutting (FAWJ) or Pure Water Jet cutting (PWJ).
Benefits
- Increased Productivity, High Precision Fast Cutting
- Raw Material Savings - Reduced Scrap
- No Delamination, Whiskers, or Fibre Pull During Cutting
- No Thermal-Affected Zones, No Micro Cracks, No Mechanical Stress
- Minimal Kerf Allows Incredibly Fine Detail with Satin-Smooth Cutting Edge
- Low Operating Cost - Waterjet Orifices and Abrasive Focusing Nozzles Only Require Occasional Replacement
- Omni-Directional Cutting, Even at Tight Inside Corners
- No Need for Extensive Part Clamping - Minimal Lateral or Vertical Forces
- Minimum Tool Diameter, Reduced Tooling Costs, Lighter Flexible Tooling
- Net or Near-Net Cutting, Little or No Hand Finishing
- Single-Pass Cutting, Depending on Material Thickness
- No Worrying Smoke or Vapours
Industries
- Automotive Industry
- Aerospace
- Defence
- Motorsport
- Leisure Boats Sector - Jetski, Speedboats, Power Boats, Racing Yachts, Carbon Fibre Yacht Masts
- Leisure Sports Industry - Sports Helmets, Ski
- Construction – Thermal Breaks
Composite Cutting Applications
- Supportive Structures and Bodywork/Trim Parts to Reduce Weight
- Bodywork/Trim Parts Made of High-Tech Materials
- Construction of Vessels
- Edge Trim, Cut-outs
- Model-making
