Three OMAX R&D engineers win Best Paper Award

Kent, Wash.-based abrasive waterjet system manufacturer OMAX® has announced that Director of R&D Dr. Axel Henning and Senior Mechanical Engineers Pete Miles and Ernst Schubert have received the Best Paper Award at the 24th International Conference on Water Jetting 2018. The three engineers collectively wrote the paper titled “Effects of Particle Fragmentation on Performance of the Abrasive Waterjet.”

“The paper is a study in cutting performance from an abrasive particle size perspective,” said Miles. The study found “…the portion of larger particles decreases significantly with higher pressures and the amount of fines that have no significant impact in the cutting process increases substantially.” The paper showcased how, at higher pressures, abrasive breaks apart to a finer dust before exiting the nozzle, resulting in reduced cutting power.