Last Updated on Composites such as fiberglass are nothing short of miracle materials. Its physical strength is on another level. This high strength is why fiberglass has found so many applications, replacing a wide range of materials.
However, this high strength also poses a challenge for manufacturers and fabricators. Professionals in the industry often wonder about the best method to cut materials such as fiberglass. Its physical characteristics (strength and hardness) render ordinary cutting methods unfeasible.
As a result, waterjet cutting has become the most sought-after option for cutting fiberglass and similar material. In this article, we will investigate waterjet cutting fiberglass in detail.
Can You Cut Carbon Fiber and Fiberglass With a Waterjet Cutter?
Yes, an abrasive water jet cutter can cut any type of material, soft or hard. The wide range of materials that can be cut by waterjet include:
- Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP)
- Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GRP or GFRP)
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP or CRP)
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Carbon (C/C)
- Composite Foams
- Composite Papers
- Metal Matrix Composites
- Ceramic Matrix Composites
- Any type of carbon fiber
It is important to note that these are only a few examples of what waterjet cutting is capable of. If you have any other composite material that requires cutting, a waterjet cutter can process it without hassle.
What are the Benefits of Using a Water Jet to Cut Composites Like Fiberglass and Carbon Fiber?
Many benefits make water jet cutting the best choice for cutting materials like fiberglass and tough carbon fibers. Some of these factors are:
High-Quality Parts
Waterjet cutting is highly accurate, leading to high-quality parts. Precision machining by water jet cutter also allows parts to be used without needing any secondary finishing, as there is a smoother finish with a water jet.
Other cutting alternatives can often cause delamination of carbon fiber and create rough surface edges. This does not happen with waterjet cutting.
No Heat-Affected Zones
When cutting hard materials, most cutting tools generate a lot of heat that can ruin the material near the cut location. These hot zones can degrade material integrity and its visual appearance.
However, high-pressure water jet cutting is a cold-cutting process. Therefore, no heat-affected zones are created. The jet of water is itself heat dissipating in nature.
Dust Free Cutting
Cutting carbon fiber materials with blade cutters or other cutting tools generates carbon dust in the environment. This dust is harmful to health and also hinders operation. However, waterjet cutting includes dust containment, as all the dust generated is dissolved and washed away as the jet of water cuts through the material. Therefore, the environment is entirely dust-free.
Workforce Safety
Most composite cutting tools bring safety concerns, such as the risk of potential injury to the workforce. However, waterjet cutting ensures complete workforce safety. Additionally, the cutter is controlled by a CNC machine, and the operator doesn’t have to physically handle the cutting head. This means that there is not even the slightest possibility of injury.
Environment Friendly
Pressurized water jet cutting is a green process. There is no emission of toxic fumes or harmful waste substances. Even the carbon fiber dust generated as a waste material can be strained and used as an abrasive for abrasive waterjet cutting. Additionally, the water itself can be recycled back into the system.
Versatile Shapes and Thicknesses
Waterjet cutting can create a wide range of cut shapes, from simple two-dimensional cuts to intricate and complex 3D cuts. There are multi-axis water-jet-cutting machines available for this purpose. Additionally, it supports any thickness of composite material sheets.
Production Rate
The water-jet-cutting process has fast production rates. When cutting consistent shapes, multiple sheets of composite materials can be stacked on top of each other and cut simultaneously. This stacking process scales up the production speed exponentially.
Cost Saving
Water jet cutting is one of the most cost-saving cutting methods for fiberglass. It offers low tooling costs (the water is recycled), high production rates, and no material wastage due to the absence of heat-affected zones. Additionally, stacking multiple carbon fiber layers provides another advantage in saving costs.
Material Saving
Waterjet cutting has minimal kerfs, which means that negligible material is removed during the cutting process. Additionally, since there are no heat-related effects and accuracy is high, the defect rejection rate is low. This makes waterjet cutting the best material-saving cutting option.
Applications of Waterjet Cutting of Composites
There are many applications of water jet stream cutting, such as:
- Insulators: Composite materials are used to make insulators for power generation and distribution. These insulators are often cut using a waterjet cutting machine.
- Communication Enclosures: Composite sheets form communication enclosures to provide a single contact point for all communication terminals and protect them from harsh natural elements.
- Aerospace: The aerospace industry requires various composite materials for parts, such as thermal heat insulation. These have extreme hardness and are cut using a waterjet cutter for ultra-high precision.
- Signage: Water jet cutting is ideal for PVC acrylic composites to create various forms of signage.
- Heat Sink: Heat sinks for electronics and industrial equipment are produced using a waterjet cutter.
- Heat Transfer: Heat transfer solutions made of silicone and neoprene laminates are processed with a waterjet cutting solution.
- Automobiles: Fiberglass is an integral part of automobile body kits and components. It is present in multiple locations in each and every car.
- Sports Gear: Waterjet-cut carbon panels are used to make a variety of sports gear, such as tennis racquets, archery bows, and golf clubs.
How to Choose a Water Jet Cutter for Composites?
When deciding on a water jet-cutting machine, it is important to evaluate the decision based on the following factors:
- Pump Pressure: The water pressure of the water tank will play a key role in the cost of the water jet cutting machine. Hard materials like strong carbon fibers require a high water pressure, so choose the particular machine based on the type of materials you want to cut and their thickness.
- Build Quality: The build quality of the equipment is very important to consider because waterjet cutting machines are a significant investment. It is better to spend slightly more on superior build quality than to compromise in this regard. Even a minor breakdown of parts like a vacuum assist valve can cause significant downtime, so focus on getting high-quality machines.
- Features: There is a wide range of features that you can get with a waterjet cutter, such as underwater cutting and software control. Many of these features are indispensable, providing a better cutting experience and higher cut quality and saving costs in the long run.
Best Waterjet Cutting Machine For Composites
Based on all the factors that matter, Techni Waterjet CNC cutting machines are the best tools for cutting composites or any other materials. These machines are designed with industry-leading build quality, and spare parts are readily available whenever required.
All these machines come with a complete warranty and software. The software itself has many cutting shapes preloaded, so the operator can use them with the click of a button. There is also the option to add as many customized cut shapes as required. There are also many other features, such as underwater cutting for minimal noise in the workspace.
Final Thoughts
Composites are the supreme materials of this age, replacing older materials including plastics and glass. The strength of these materials surpasses metals in certain cases. The hardness and thickness of such materials are the reasons why waterjet cutting has become the go-to choice for cutting composite materials.
The lack of thermal damage along with many other benefits makes waterjet cutting unbeatable and preferable over other cutting alternatives. So incorporate waterjet cutting into your manufacturing facility or workshop, and you’ll be amazed by the results!
To learn more about waterjet cutting and find out which particular machine will suit your needs the best, get in touch with Techni Waterjet today.
Composites such as fiberglass are nothing short of miracle materials. While visually fiberglass appears similar to ordinary glass, the physical strength of the composite is just on another level. This high strength is the reason that fiberglass has found so many applications, replacing the ordinary glass.
However, this high strength also poses a challenge for manufacturers and fabricators. Professionals in the industry often wonder about what is the best method to cut composites such as fiberglass. The physical characteristics (such as strength and hardness) of composites render ordinary cutting methods unfeasible.
Waterjet cutting has turned out to be the most sought-after option for fiberglass cutting and cutting other composites. In this article, we will investigate waterjet cutting fiberglass in detail.
Can You Cut Carbon Fiber and Fiberglass With a Waterjet Cutter?
Yes, you can easily cut carbon fiber and fiberglass with abrasive water jet cutter. In fact, waterjet cutting can be used to cut any type of composite, from the softest to the hardest materials. The wide range of composites that are cut by waterjet cutting include:
- Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP)
- Glass Fiber Reinforced Plastic (GRP or GFRP)
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Plastic (CFRP or CRP)
- Carbon Fiber Reinforced Carbon (C/C)
- Composite Foams
- Composite Papers
- Metal Matrix Composites
- Ceramic Matrix Composites
- Any types of carbon fiber
It is important to note that these composites are only a few examples of what waterjet cutting is capable of. If you have any other composite material that requires cutting, a waterjet cutter can process it without a doubt.
What are the Benefits of Using Water Jet to Cut Composites Like Fiberglass and Carbon Fiber?
There are many factors that make water jet cutting the best way to cut composites like fiberglass and tough carbon fibers. Some of these factors are:
High-Quality Parts
Waterjet cutting has a very high accuracy leading to high-quality parts. The precision machining by water jet cutter also allows parts to be used as is in the application. Additionally, there is no requirement for any secondary finishing processes as there is a smoother finish with water jet.
Other cutting alternatives can often cause delamination of carbon fiber as well as rough surface edges, which does not happen in waterjet cutting.
No Heat Affected Zones
When cutting hard materials like composites, most cutting tools generate a lot of heat that can ruin the material near the cut location. These zones not only deteriorate material integrity but also its visual appearance.
However, high-pressure water jet cutting is a cold-cutting process. Therefore, no heat is developed leading to the elimination of any heat-affected zones. The jet of water is itself heat dissipating in nature.
Dust Free Cutting
Cutting composites with blade cutters or other cutting tools generate carbon dust in the environment. This dust is harmful to health and also hinders operation. However, in waterjet cutting, all the dust generated gets dissolved and washed away as the jet of water cuts leading to complete dust containment. Therefore, the environment is entirely dust-free.
Workforce Safety
Most composite cutting tools bring safety concerns such as injury to the workforce. However, waterjet cutting ensures complete workforce safety. Additionally, the cutter itself is controlled by the CNC mechanism and the operator doesn’t have to physically handle the cutting head at all. This means that there is not even the slightest possibility of injury.
Environment Friendly
Pressurized water jet cutting is a green process. There is no emission of toxic fumes or harmful waste substances. Even the carbon fiber dust generated as a waste material can be strained and used as an abrasive for abrasive waterjet cutting. Additionally, the water itself can be recycled back into the system.
Versatile Shapes and Thickness
Waterjet cutting can create a wide range of cut shapes, from simple two-dimensional cuts to intricate and complex 3D cuts. There are multi-axis water jet cutting machines available for this purpose. Additionally, it supports any thickness of composite material sheets.
Production Rate
Water jet cutting process has very fast production rates. When cutting consistent shapes, multiple sheets of composite materials can be stacked on top of each other and cut simultaneously. This process is called stacking and it scales up the production speed exponentially.
Cost Saving
Water jet cutting process is one of the most cost-saving composites and fiberglass cutting methods out there. This is because of multiple factors such as low tooling cost (water itself is recycled), high production rate, and no material wastage due to the elimination of heat-affected zones. Additionally, stacking multiple carbon fiber layers provides another major advantage in saving costs further.
Material Saving
Waterjet cutting has minimal kerfs, which means that negligible material is removed due to the cutting process. Additionally, since there are no heat-related effects and accuracy is high, there are no pieces rejected due to defects. This makes waterjet cutting the best material-saving option out there.
Applications of Waterjet Cutting of Composites
There are many application of water jet stream cutting of composites uch as:
- Insulators: Composite materials are used to make insulators for power generation and distribution. These composites are cut using a waterjet cutting machine.
- Communication Enclosures: Waterjet cut composite sheets are turned into communication enclosures to provide a single contact point for all communication terminals and protect them from harsh natural elements.
- Aerospace: The aerospace industry requires a variety of composite materials for parts such as thermal heat insulation. These have extreme hardness and are cut using a waterjet cutter for ultra-high precision.
- Signage: Water jet cutting is applied on PVC acrylic composites to create various forms of signage.
- Heat Sink: Heat sinks for electronics and industrial equipment are designed using a waterjet cutter.
- Heat Transfer: Heat transfer solutions made of silicone and neoprene laminates are processed with a waterjet cutting solution.
- Automobile: Fiberglass is an integral part of automobile body kits and components. It is present in multiple locations in each and every car.
- Sports Gear: Waterjet cut Carbon panels are used to make a variety of sports gear such as tennis racquets, archery bows, and golf clubs.
How to Choose a Water Jet Cutter for Composites?
When deciding on a water jet cutting machine for composites, it is important to evaluate the decision based on the following factors:
- Pump Pressure: The water pressure of the water tank will play a major role in the cost of the water jet cutting machine. Hard materials like strong carbon fibers require a high water pressure, so choose the particular machine based on the type of composites you want to cut and their material thickness.
- Build Quality: The build quality of the equipment is very important to consider because waterjet cutting machines are a big investment. It is better to spend a bit more on build quality than to compromise in this regard. Even a minor breakdown of parts like a vacuum assist valve can cause significant downtimes, so focus on getting high-quality machines.
- Features: There is a wide range of features that you can get with a waterjet cutter, such as underwater cutting and software control. Many of these features are indispensable and end up saving costs in the long run, in addition to a better cutting experience and higher cut quality.
Best Waterjet Cutting Machine For Composites
Based on all the factors that matter, Techni Waterjet CNC cutting machines are the best tools for cutting composites or any other materials. These machines are designed keeping build quality in mind, with readily available spares whenever required.
All these machines come with a complete warranty and complimentary software. The software itself has many cutting shapes preloaded, so the operator can use them with the click of a button. There is also the option to add as many customized cut shapes as required. There are also many other features, such as underwater cutting for minimal noise in the workspace.
Endnotes
Composites are the supreme materials of this age, replacing older materials including plastics and glass. The strength of these materials is even at par with metals in certain cases. The high hardness and thickness are few of the reasons why waterjet cutting has become to go-to choice for processing composite materials.
The lack of thermal damage along with many other benefits makes waterjet cutting unbeatable and preferable over other cutting alternatives. Therefore, if you were wondering whether or not to incorporate waterjet cutting into your manufacturing facility or workshop, there shouldn’t be any more confusion.
To learn more about waterjet cutting and find out which particular machine will suit your needs the best, get in touch with Techni Waterjet today!
