WATERJET CUTTING SYSTEM DESIGN & MANUFACTURING

         Waterjet cutting is one of the newest technique in Non-traditional Machining Processes . This cutting method was developed in the late 1960 s by Dr. Norman C. Franz at the University of Michigan. The first commercial system was installed in 1971 by McCartney Company, a division of Ingersoll-Rand. The use of waterjet cutting has become popular in industry only in the past few years. The adaptation of industrial robots for greater manipulation of the waterjet nozzle and the use of abrasive additives in the water stream have extended the use and application areas of the system. According to the reports published in 1990, over 500 systems have been installed in industries world-wide.

Because of its unique advantages and wide range of uses, a research work on the design and manufacturing of water jet system has been carried out at the Mechanical Engineering Department at the Ç.U. in 1996. This was the first research on this subject in Turkey.

In this work it was aimed to design and construct the system using  the national facilities. This project has been funded by State Planning Agency (DPT) and Research Fund of University of Çukurova. This research work has been concentrated on the development of a high-pressure intensifier of a waterjet cutting system which  is the main and the most important unit of the system. It has been aimed to design and manufacture a pressure riser or intensifier Which can increase the water pressure to about 1200 bars for cutting wood, marble, leather etc.   In 1999, The first Prototype of WJC system, designed by Design and Manufacturing group at the Mechanical Engineering Department of University of Çukurova, was manufactured using the facilities of Mechanical Engineering Laboratories and local facilities in 1999.

Figure The Schematic Representation of Developed Waterjet Cutting System

This research work has been carried out by :

• Prof. Dr. Beşir ŞAHİN 
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Melih BAYRAMOĞLU
• Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet GEREN
• Lecturer M. Murat BAYSAL
• Res. Asst. Selçuk KIRBAŞ
• Res. Asst. Tarkan TUNÇ
• Res. Asst. Orhan OZBARAN
• Res. Asst.Mesut TUTAL 

     The maximum pressure which could be obtained on the developed system is about 1400 bars. This is high enough for cutting various non-metallic and thin metallic materials. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Necdet GEREN and Res. Asst. Mesut TUTAL is still on this research to increase  the operating pressure from 1400 bars to 3000 bars.