Erosion by air enhanced plain water jet

The article describes the fundamental characteristics of a plain waterjet tool enhanced by air. Here, the geometry of the kerfs on the test materials is described in dependence of the air pressure supplied into the injection head. An injection head was used, and the abrasive particles were substituted by a defined air flow. Experiments were conducted at aluminium alloy EN AW-5083 (AlMg4,5Mn0,7) by varying two water pressure levels and four pressure conditions of the air inlet. An evaluation was conducted by the observed free jet geometry and the conceived erosion characteristics on the material.