Home: Comparison of Abrasive Water Jet to other cutting processes
Conventional 3 axis (CNC) machining options:
- Routing
- Laser
- Plasma
- Flame Cutting (Oxy-Fuel)
- Wire Erosion (EDM)
- Milling
Comparison with Competing Technologies
Abrasive Water Jet versus EDM
EDM strengths:
- Extremely precise parts (+/- 0.025mm)
- Very thick parts (more than 300mm)
- Tapered parts
AWJ strengths:
- Five to ten times faster (for parts less than 25mm)
- No heat-affected zone
- Good in non conductive materials (glass, plastic, GRP etc)
- Pierces material without pre-drilling
- Larger working area
Abrasive Water Jet versus Laser
Laser strengths
- Rapid cutting of thin non-reflective materials
- Highly accurate parts (+/- 0.025mm)
- ‘Polished’ cut edge
AWJ strengths
- Accuracy the same as Laser but in much thicker materials
- Parts up to 50mm thick in almost any material
- No heat-affected zone to prevent secondary operations
- Can machine reflective materials
Abrasive Water Jet v Routing
Routing strengths
- Lower capital equipment cost for the same size work area
- Vacuum work holding system
- Edge profile cutting with special form tools
- 3D profiling from flat sheet without re-positioning
AWJ strengths
- Better utilisation of material - cut path (kerf) only 0.25mm wide - typical routing kerf 12 / 16mm, greater for thicker materials
- Only one ‘cutter’ required for all materials, no tool carousel
- No dust collection or disposal requirements
- Very well suited to Stainless Steels for the Sign Industry
- Cuts fabric based composite materials with a clean undamaged edge