Cutting glass has always presented a unique challenge.
Two layer laminated glass cut using WaterJet technology
Glass is a hard material composed of sand and an alkali metal that at a high temperature become fused together. It is considered to be an amorphous or non-crystalline material which is characterized by unique physical properties. Due to its brittle nature glass fragments easily as can be seen from the ease by which it shatters. Accompanying its brittle qualities, glass is characteristically a very hard material. For this reason extreme heat is often used to work with glass and shape it into a desired form. So as you can see, cutting glass is a tricky proposition. It requires a level of gentle handling and care while at the same time great power to combat its hard physical makeup. Luckily many manufacturers looking for a solution to the problem of cutting glass have found an answer in abrasive WaterJet technology.
WaterJet technology is ideal for glass cutting applications because of the extreme power it possess as well as the intricacy of its cutting stream. With abrasive cutting it is able to work on extremely hard materials including even stone. Therefore it is able to effectively cut through even the hardest of glasses such as the type used in hurricane windows and products. Additionally since the water can be directed at the material in such a thin stream it can not only perform detailed cuts, but also has little impact on the rest of the material. One type of possible impact is vibration which can cause fractures or cracks when dealing with fragile materials such as glass. With WaterJet technology there is no vibration of the material as the material is cut. The abrasive and water simply erode the material rather than chipping or grinding away at it in order to make the cut.
WaterJet technology also saves time on finishing activities. The extremely clean and precise edges and the fact that the WaterJet does not produce any heat affected zones saves the need for additional and costly secondary finishing.
This just goes to demonstrate another example of how versatile and powerful WaterJet technology truly is. To see MultiCam’s full offerings of WaterJet cutting technologies visit http://www.multicam.com/eng/Products/waterjet.html
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