If you want to cut materials, there are many methods to achieve, such as sawing and gas cutting, you can cut all kinds of materials. 

However, these cutting methods are not perfect, so later water jet cutting and laser cutting were invented, which are also widely used cutting methods. Facts have proved that these two methods are also the most effective cutting solutions in the industry.

However, people have not stopped looking for better cutting methods. For example, for the processing of some precision metal parts or the cutting of some new materials, they need to find new cutting methods, and then developed a unique water jet laser cutting technology. 

First of all, let's take a look at the differences and similarities between water jet and laser cutting methods. 

1. Definition

The water jet is to use water as a knife, pressurize the water in the container to ultra-high pressure, and then inject high-pressure water through a very small nozzle, so as to realize the cutting of materials; In order to increase the cutting capacity, some pomegranate sand, diamond and other abrasives will be added to the water, which is a widely used cutting method.

Laser cutting is to produce a high-power laser beam through the machine, and then irradiate the materials to be cut. The high temperature generated by the laser will melt or vaporize the irradiated materials, so as to realize the cutting of materials. 

2. Cut material

The water jet cutter has almost no restrictions on the material that can be cut. The water jet cutter will not generate heat when cutting the material, thus avoiding the melting, edge warping, bending, combustion and other phenomena of the cut material; Common material types for water jet cutting include plastic, rubber, stone, ceramic tile, stainless steel, and other metals.

Laser. Laser can cut a wide range of metals, including stainless steel and carbon steel, as well as aluminum and a variety of alloys. Some lasers can cut through non-conductive materials such as wood, glass or plastic, but the heat generated by laser will affect some metal products. 

3. Cut thickness

Water jet: there is no limit to the thickness of water jet cutting materials. It mainly depends on the pressure of the water flow. The greater the pressure, the thicker the material can be cut.

Laser: in general machinery workshops, most lasers can cut about 2cm of metal, but the thickness of cutting materials also varies according to the metal. The melting point and thermal conductivity of the metal will affect the thickness of laser cutting; The advantage of laser cutting machine is that it can cut thinner materials at a much higher speed than water jet. 

4. Accuracy and quality of cutting

Water jet: the cutting width of the water jet is about 0.7mm, and the cutting surface is very thin. In some cases, it almost reaches the quality of the machine, but there will be some errors at the top and bottom of the cutting seam. The thicker the material, the greater the error.

Laser: the laser cutting error is much smaller than that of the water jet. When cutting tight geometric shapes on small parts or when parts need to be nested closely, laser cutting can be used. Moreover, laser cutting can make the cut profile surface cleaner and smoother, but with the increase of thickness or speed, some stripes will be left. 

5. Comparison summary

Water jet: water jet cutting is an accurate and widely used cutting method, which can cut a wide range of materials and thicknesses. Although the speed of water jet is not as fast as that of laser in some materials, it can provide high cutting quality and will not produce heat that will affect the materials.

Laser: laser cutting is very fast and accurate, but it depends on the material and thickness. In general, the speed and accuracy of laser are very high. For thick materials or materials that will be affected by heat, it is best to find another cutting method. 

With the emergence of new materials such as carbon fiber reinforced polymers and ceramic matrix composites, the machining of these new materials has become a problem. 

Both water jet and laser cutting have some defects. In order to meet this challenge, water jet laser cutting technology has been developed to process this kind of advanced composite materials. 

Water jet laser cutting is a hybrid processing method, also known as laser micro jet, which combines laser with "fine" water jet. The water jet (water jet) accurately guides the laser beam in a similar way to the conventional optical fiber to achieve cutting. The water jet constantly cools the cutting area and effectively removes the debris generated during cutting.

This technology was first applied to semiconductor wafer cutting. With the maturity of the technology, it has been gradually extended to medical equipment, clock processing, gas and jet engine turbine blades, mechanical processing of semiconductor equipment and material cutting in the manufacturing process of superhard tools. 

After focusing, the laser beam will be formed. When passing through the pressurized water chamber, it will push the water to flow forward and focus into the nozzle. Finally, the laser beam will be emitted from the nozzle together with the water flow.

There is no abrasive in the water flow, so the cutting mainly depends on the laser. The role of water is to use the water column to guide the laser not to disperse, gather the laser energy and cut faster, as well as to cool down and remove debris.

From the nozzle to the cutting workpiece, the laser beam will not disperse, but will continuously reflect and advance in the water column. In principle, it is similar to optical fiber transmission. The laser beam can be guided at a distance of up to 10cm, so as to achieve neat cutting without refocusing or distance control.

Water jet laser cutting can achieve very high cutting quality, no thermal damage to materials, no combustion or thermal degradation, less burr, smoother surface, higher precision for straight edge cutting, which helps to maintain the high precision of aperture, and the water jet can continuously cool the cutting area, which can effectively remove the debris generated during cutting.

Water jet laser cutting for processors, it can have faster production speed, a wider range of processing materials, higher reliability and higher cutting quality, and achieve lower cutting cost.

With the emergence of more new materials, all these characteristics of water jet laser cutting will also be more widely used.

Source: and non network

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