Water Jet Technology
Fundamentals and Applications
The high-pressure waterjet technology is a branch of liquid-jet technology. It has a lot to offer and respects the environment, it is acid free, contains no chemical products, only water. For 3½ billion years, the power of water in nature, forming mountains and valleys, transporting immense quantities of material, is blessing and curse at the same time. The recurring, devastating events in the form of floods and their effects testify to the immense kinetic energy of the water when it is in motion. For centuries people have been using water as an energy carrier and trying to use it in a controlled manner. Around 1870, American gold explorers were to remove hard rocks for the first time with a water jet to expose the gold veins. From then on, this technology has been systematically applied and further developed in mining and mining operations. In the 1960s, an American aircraft manufacturer first used the jet of water to cut aircraft parts. This laid the foundations for the triumph of waterjet technology. Technolgy plays an important role in more and more areas of activity. Not only as a cutting tool for all conceivable materials, but also for cleaning, de-coating, crushing, cutting, pre-treatment of surfaces, in operating rooms, in the processing of foodstuffs. The applications seem almost unlimited and they are used successfully in more and more fields of application. It can be described as one of the most important technological achievements of the 21st century.