Modelling of wear mechanisms at the abrasive waterjet cutting front

The usage of abrasive waterjet has been established in many fields of industrial production. Limitations in perfomance and surface quality hinder a wider distribution of applications. Especially the formation of structures at the cutting edge has been identified as a major limitting factor. Better understanding may here result in control and optimal usage of the immanent physical processes and may lead to higher efficiency. In this paper new approaches to modeling the abrasive waterjet cutting process are elaborated. Starting with the particle impact zone the geometrical constraints of the process were analyzed and the primary impact zone was simulated. After the first impact te particles flow along the curve of the leading cutting front. The processes that are involved in the secondary impact zone at the cutting front were analyzed by simulating the motion of the particles along the curve. From this new information about the active erosion processes could be derived. With this a better understanding of the paticipating processes new approaches to modeling the abrasive waterjet can be initiated resulting in optimization of the overall outcome in regard of surface quality ant cutting performance.