High Energy Fluid Jet Machining (HEFJet-Mach): From scientific and technological advances to niche industrial applications

With the increasing demands to generate complex parts on ever-more advanced, but difficult-to-cut materials, a group of technologies, generically called High Energy Fluid Jet Machining (HEFJet-Mach) has found niche applications that stimulated further development of science and technology in this field. Here HEFJet-Mach refers to unrestrained fluid jets used to remove and/or deform the workpiece material. The aim of this paper is to systematically present the recent developments of HEFJet-Mach from various perspectives: machine/system designs; modelling of both jet plumes and their interactions with the target surfaces; part quality including material integrity; supervision and control of the process; key aspects of machine maintenance and health and safety. (C) 2014 CIRP.