Waterjet Cutting
High pressure waterjet is a powerful cutting tool able to cut through a wide range of materials. These materials are used for automotive soft Interior Trims such as Carpets, Headliners, Trunk liners, NVH Insulations, Door and Instruments Panels, Bumpers as well as thin Composite parts.
The energy required for cutting these materials are obtained by pressurizing ordinary water up to 60,000 psi. The pressurized water forms a fine water stream or “knife”, accelerating up to 1,700 MPH as it passes through a hole bored thru industrial grade sapphires or diamonds. The 6-axis robot guides the waterjet cutting head along the part achieving typical cutting speeds of 4 inches per second (in/s) up to 16 in/s for headliners and carpets. The cut product remains dry because of the small amount of water used (< 0.5 GPM) and the high cutting speeds.
Benefits of Robotic Waterjet Cutting
● Waterjet can easily cut many different materials, even those made up of multiple layers
● Adaptable Process: the Robot(s) can cut complex 3D Contours
● Flexible Production: the same system can be used to process a variety of different parts
● Clean Process: only pressurized water is used, no additives are needed and no dust is created
● Cold Process: no heat affected zones in the part, no smoke or fumes
● Omni-directional cutting of contours with a very fine cutting kerf
● Limited Cutting Force = low tooling costs vs. 3D die cutting
● Fast, Accurate and Repeatable: high quality of processed parts with shortest cycle times
● Fully Automated: safe and cost efficient process, lowest cost per part cut