Investigation of the abrasive water jet trajectory curvature inside the kerf

The paper is aimed at the implementation of new findings into the author's theoretical models of the abrasive water jet. Both the theoretical and the experimental works were performed to verify and specify the physical relationships among parameters of abrasive water jets used for cutting, the properties of cut materials and the output parameters of cutting, usually the depth of the cut. The model is based on up-to-date results. The new part of the model was designed to enable the calculation of the angle of the cutting head tilt so that the jet penetrating the material might exit it approximately along the normal to the material surface created at the point of jet axis entry. This model was experimentally verified on several tens of materials and its high reliability and applicability were confirmed on quasi-homogeneous materials.