The Historry of Waterjet Cutting

KMT Waterjet manufactures and installs the first commercially used waterjet cutting unit

In the early days of waterjet technology development, it was mainly the flushing action of water-power which was exploited. As from around the mid-1920s, the use of water-power at high pressure began to gain in significance, as demand rose in foundries for new and more productive methods for wet dressing of castings and in the mining industry for winning of coal and precious metals in steeply dipping deposits. The water pressure used at this time was around 100 bar. In 1968, Dr. Norman Franz, a professor at the University of British Columbia, patented the first concept for a high-pressure waterjet cutting system. The water pressure envisaged had now risen to around 700 bar. The first system with a water pressure as high as 4.000 bar was commissioned by Alton Box Board Co.'s Papertube Division in 1971. The low rate of material removal did not permit the inclusion of metals in the range of materials which could be cut, however. This problem was solved in the early 1980s with the enhancement of material-removal rate via the addition of particles of solid material to the jet of water. This so-called "Abrasive" process now makes it possible to cut and drill even the hardest materials.