ABSTRACT
High pressure liquid-jet equipment has been developed for a variety of applications in industry. There are three main areas of application: jet-cutting; disintegration of brittle materials; and separation of materials. Industrial jet-cutting equipment has been used to cut wood, cardboard, fiberboard, newsprint, cloth, rubber, leather, plastics, foamed-materials, ice, and frozen foods. The production of liquid jets with desired low-dispersion characteristics requires careful attention to hydrodynamic design of the nozzle and feed system. The effectiveness of the jet depends on the jet characteristics as modified by its interaction with solid during the cutting process. Continuous jets for cutting may be produced by pumps or by pressure-intensifiers in which a liquid at medium pressure, acting on a large piston, drives a smaller piston to produce a higher pressure at a lower flowrate. The high pressure liquid-jets have become more widely used for a variety of applications in industrial jet-cutting and coal-mining.
