ABSTRACT
In recent years, high-speed fluid and slurry jets have become one of the major tools in manufacturing, maintenance of civil structures and environment protec tion [1]. A number of new non-traditional applications are emerging in mining, medicine and defense. Applications of jets range from demolition of buildings and breakage of stones to eye surgery to precision machining. The most important jet application, however, is surface decontamination, including cleaning, decoat ing, degreasing, derusting, etc. Currently, the most common cleaning technniques involve the use of various cleansers, detergents, degreasers, etc. In most cases, however, environmental consequences of chemical treatment are damaging and in some cases they are unacceptable. In order to be effective, a cleanser is expected to form a stable solution with the debris. This solution, unfortunately, constitutes a stable pollution stream. Besides, as the requirements for surface cleanliness in crease, so does the cost of chemical treatment.