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WATER JET CONFERENCE - Waterjet Technology Association

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to their crystalline structure. The grains of some beach sands, on the other hand, are well<br />

polished and have lost their sharp edges. The presence or absence of natural fractures on the<br />

abrasive grains is also a related factor.<br />

The benefit of using hard and sharp abrasives was found to be influenced by the rock<br />

involved. For cutting sandstone, the difference in cut depth between garnet and copper slag was<br />

not significant. In cutting quartzite, garnet was far superior to copper slag. For the same reason,<br />

garnet and silicon carbide probably produce similar cutting results on quartzite but can be<br />

significantly different when they are used to cut glass or steel. The relative hardness between the<br />

abrasives and the target material is a subject relevant to Abrasion Jet cutting of materials. This<br />

subject is believed to be related to some other factors, such as water pressure.<br />

Using garnet as abrasives, the grain size was found to affect the cutting rate of Abrasion<br />

Jet, as shown in Figures 4 and 5. Garnet of Grit #36 and #60 were superior to #100 in cutting<br />

quartzite specimens. Grit #60 was found to be slightly superior to Grit #36 in cutting quartzite<br />

but the reverse was observed with other types of rock. The study of abrasive grain size's effect on<br />

Abrasion-Jet cutting was complicated by the fact that changing the abrasive grain size can<br />

change the amount of abrasives entrained into the multiple waterjets and thus the gravity flow of<br />

abrasives at the tank. A slight change in the abrasive flow rate can affect the depth of cut such<br />

that the observation of the effect of other factors becomes difficult.<br />

With #100 garnet, choked abrasive flow occurred early and a maximum amount of only 3<br />

pounds per minute was able to be introduced into the nozzle. Also, the benefit in cutting with<br />

#100 garnet was seen to level off early at about 2.0 pound per minute. With the same nozzle but<br />

#36 and #60 garnet, the abrasive feed rate could be increased up to 4.0 pound per minute and the<br />

benefit in cutting increased with the increase in feed rate until abrasive flow was choked. The<br />

reason for the occurrence of choked abrasive flow is not yet clearly understood but is believed to<br />

be related to the water flow rate and jet configurations. It has been observed that the abrasive<br />

feed rate could be increased beyond 5 pound per minute with the same abrasives and abrasive<br />

orifice when a different 5-parallel jet orifice cone was used. The only difference in these two<br />

cases was the water flow rate. Obviously, the abrasives entered into the mixing cavity must be<br />

carried away immediately by the waterjets if accumulation and clogging of abrasives are to be<br />

avoided. How does the abrasive grain size affects the level of negative pressure generated in the<br />

mixing cavity is not clear at present.<br />

Garnet abrasives of different grit sizes produced cuts of different profile on rock, as<br />

shown in Figure 6, which presents a photograph of cuts made on a quartzite specimen. The cuts<br />

on the left were made with #60 garnet while those on the right were made with #36 garnet. The<br />

sharp taper exhibited by the cuts is associated with cutting very hard rock. The influence of spent<br />

jet is also visible on the rock specimen and is indicated by the bottom portion of the cuts. This<br />

aspect is associated with the impingement angle of Abrasion Jet, which can affect the depth of<br />

cut but has not been studied in this project.<br />

Nozzle Standoff Distance<br />

Within a range of a few inches, the nozzle standoff distance of Abrasion Jet does not<br />

have significant effect on the depth of cut on rock as it does in high-pressure waterjet cutting of<br />

442

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