Water at high pressure was being used for erosion purpose in the mid 1800’s for the purpose of hydraulic mining. In 1933, the use of water jet as a narrow stream for cutting purpose was started by Paper Patents Company situated in Wisconsin where water jet was being used for cutting a thin sheet of continuously moving paper. Since then many researchers developed various techniques for cutting of various materials using water jet at high pressure as the cutting source. Although there were many researches for this cutting process, there was no significant development in the cutting ability of the process to cut metals. In the year 1956, AteCarl Johnson developed a method for cutting plastics. With time the pressure and velocity of the water jet increased and in the year 1958, Bille of North America used this process for cutting hard materials. John Alson along with his fellow researchers further improved the cutting ability of the process in 1970’s. The recent advances in the technology led to the development of five axis water jet machining. The basic process of water jet machining is shown in the figure.
This process is further modified by addition of abrasive particles in the water stream converting the process into abrasive-water jet machining. The process is much more efficient and results in higher material removal rate than plain water jet machining process.
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