As reported by HowStuffWorks in their article “How can water cut through steel?” a waterjet, a tool used in machine shops, utilizes a very high-pressure stream of water to cut through metal. Imagine a waterjet with about 30 times the pressure of the power washer wand at your local car wash. This incredible technology can cut through metal by maintaining a coherent spray, channeled through a narrow jeweled nozzle at extremely high pressure. Unlike traditional metal cutters, a waterjet remains sharp and never dulls, eliminating the risk of overheating.
The history of waterjets dates back to the low-pressure waterjets used for gold mining in California in 1852. Over the years, advancements led to the use of high-pressure waterjets for cutting in the 1960s and the introduction of abrasive water jets in the 1980s. In contrast to traditional metal cutting methods, computer-controlled waterjet and abrasivejet cutting, allow for the precise cutting of various soft and hard materials. The plain water-abrasive mixture exits the nozzle at speeds exceeding 900 mph, and the latest machines boast cutting precision within two thousandths of an inch, with jet speeds around Mach 3.
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