AWJ Cutting Process Control by Means of Process Visualisation

Abrasive Waterjet technology is a machining process using high speed water with the addition of mineral abrasive grains to remove the workpiece material. Due to the intrinsic properties of the process, the interface zone where the material removal occurs is hidden in the workpiece. One of the possibilities to observe propagation of the cutting front is to visualise it by means of a thermal camera or in the case of transparent materials by an optical camera also. The resulting images can be analysed by using the methods of digital image processing to extract the parameters of the cutting front, which can be used to control the process.