Study on the mechanism for sparks in cutting metal with abrasive suspension water jet

As a cold processing method, water jet cutting method has the characteristic of no heat–affected zone compared with traditional cutting methods. It is especially suitable for processing materials sensitive to high temperature conditions. However, it is found that after adding abrasives, sparks often occur when water jet cutting some metals under certain conditions during the experiment. This phenomenon will inevitably restrict the development of abrasive suspension water jet (ASJ) cutting technology in mine and other dangerous working environments. In this paper, based on the experimental phenomena and the impact thermal characteristics of metals, the causes and critical conditions for sparks in cutting metal with ASJ were analyzed. The mathematical prediction model of the relationship between the maximum temperature of ASJ cutting metal and the jet parameters were established. Then, the critical conditions of sparks generation in ASJ cutting different metals under different jet parameters were deduced. And the model was preliminarily verified by cutting experiments of different metals.