Abrasive Waterjet (AWJ) Forces—Indicator of Cutting System Malfunction

Measurements enabling the online monitoring of the abrasive waterjet (AWJ) cutting process are still under development. This paper presents an experimental method which can be applicable for the evaluation of the AWJ cutting quality through the measurement of forces during the cutting process. The force measuring device developed and patented by our team has been used for measurement on several metal materials. The results show the dependence of the cutting to deformation force ratio on the relative traverse speed. Thus, the force data may help with a better understanding the interaction between the abrasive jet and the material, simultaneously impacting the improvement of both the theoretical and empirical models. The advanced models could substantially improve the selection of suitable parameters for AWJ cutting, milling or turning with the desired quality of product at the end of the process. Nevertheless, it is also presented that force measurements may detect some undesired effects, e.g., not fully penetrated material and/or some product distortions. In the case of a proper designing of the measuring device, the force measurement can be applied in the online monitoring of the cutting process and its continuous control.