In addition, the dust generated during machining must be extracted, as it is harmful to health and, as an electrical conductor, can also damage the machinery. At the same time, maximum precision and flexibility are required during machining. These high requirements put one tool technology in the spotlight: waterjet cutting.

This is because the cold cutting process enables extremely gentle working and cuts even the finest and highly complex structures precisely, reproducibly and practically fully automatically with a tolerance of up to +/-0.1 millimetres. Thanks to the very thin cutting gap of 0.3 to 1.0 millimetres, this technology not only cuts quickly and cost-effectively, but also efficiently and with minimal tool wear. No reworking of fraying or similar is required. In contrast to thermal cutting techniques, neither hardening or stresses in the workpiece nor harmful steam, dust or smoke occur during the cutting process, as it is also possible to cut under water.

All in all, the waterjet can be used to process all conventional composite materials in an environmentally friendly and cost-effective manner. What's more, unlike milling, almost all other materials can also be cut on the same machine without any major conversion work. Last but not least, the water used can be treated and reused. These requirements are met by the waterjet cutting systems from the manufacturer STM.

With its modular system, the Austrian waterjet pioneer has specialized in tailor-made complete solutions and offers interested companies a full service that is perfected down to the last detail. The range of services extends from consulting and test cuts to training, service and maintenance through to the comprehensive supply of wear parts and operating materials and financing management. With this all-round support, STM offers companies the opportunity to switch to a new, more efficient technology. The best examples of this are the carbon processing waterjet users tfc tools for composite GmbH and 3c-Carbon Composite Company GmbH.

Water jet technology that grows with you

The waterjet system from STM can efficiently cut composite materials. The modular waterjet cutting system from STM can be individually adapted to current requirements.

The Austrian company has specialized in the universal and economical implementation of waterjet technology for over 30 years. Even with inexpensive entry-level models such as the STM EcoCut, any composite material can in principle be cut with pure water or the addition of abrasive sand on one and the same machine without any conversion work. The pressure can be infinitely adjusted to the material properties: For soft composites, the working pressure is throttled down to 600 bar during drilling, while hard materials are processed at pressures of up to 4,000 bar. With the high-pressure pump, functions such as frequency inverter and smooth running ensure energy and cost efficiency and environmentally friendly operation. It only takes a few minutes to program cutting tasks with the intuitive STM SmartCut software. Drawn workpieces are read in by the software and nested in the best possible way for larger batch sizes. A fully automated cutting process starts from this point.