Suspension technology for abrasive waterjet (AWJ) cutting of ceramics

Hard machining of brittle materials like ceramics is a process-oriented challenge. It has been shown that abrasive water jet cutting is an appropriate alternative to commonly used diamond grinding or laser cutting processes. In Abrasive water jet machining the injection technology is currently used almost exclusively. Due to the realization of the suspension jet technology a higher cutting performance can be achieved. In this article the known injection principle and the suspension principle will be compared. Therefore, influences on the quality were examined for trimming technical ceramics. The investigation illustrates that suspension technology trims with a higher accuracy than injection technology in matters of kerf geometry and roughness parameters.