SBIR Phase I: Long-Life Nozzles for Abrasive-Slurry-Jet Cutting

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将测试磨料浆射流（ASJ）切割工具的实用喷嘴的可行性。几位研究人员已经证明，与传统的磨料水射流（AWJ）工具相比，ASJ切割韧性和脆性材料的速度快4-8倍，切割质量相同。然而，ASJ今天不被采用（除了在低水射流速度下），因为喷嘴的寿命非常短，因此即使使用金刚石喷嘴也是不经济的，磨料浆通过喷嘴加速。为了实现ASJ切割的已知优点，根据计算流体动力学（CFD）分析已经发明了新的喷嘴设计，这些新的喷嘴设计承诺产生经济上有吸引力的寿命。该项目将通过CFD分析完善设计，然后测试一个按比例放大的低射流速度气流模型，该模型准确模拟流体的流线;颗粒轨迹和颗粒对喷嘴内表面的影响。从这个建模数据，侵蚀率和喷嘴寿命将被预测。分析将受到影响，以证明这些创新的ASJ喷嘴切割金属，陶瓷，复合材料和玻璃的经济可行性。更广泛的影响，从这个项目可能是一个大幅度降低成本，并可以提供一个上级工具，它能够切割任何材料没有热损伤的行业。今天的AWJ世界市场约为3亿美元/年。仅美国的金属切削工具市场就超过35亿美元。ASJ切割将迅速增长，占据高达4亿美元的金属切割市场，并主导脆性材料的切割。实用的ASJ切割将提供新的商业机会，就业机会和独特的出口产品。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will test the feasibility of practical nozzles for abrasive slurry jet (ASJ) cutting tools. ASJ has been shown by several researchers to cut malleable and brittle material up to 4-8 times faster, with the same cut quality, compared to conventional abrasive water jet (AWJ) tools. However, ASJ is not employed today (except at low water-jet velocities) because the life of the nozzle, through which the abrasive slurry accelerates, is very short and hence uneconomical, even with diamond nozzles. In order to realize the known benefits of ASJ cutting, new nozzle designs have been invented according to computational fluid dynamic (CFD) analysis, these new nozzle designs promise to yield economically attractive life. The project will refine the designs with CFD analysis and then test a scaled-up, airflow model with low jet velocity, which accurately simulates both the fluid's streamlines; the particle trajectories and particle impacts against the nozzle's internal surfaces. From this modeling data, erosion rates and nozzle life will be predicted. An analysis will be affected in order to demonstrate the economic feasibility of these innovative ASJ nozzles for cutting metal, ceramics, composites and glasses.The broader impacts from this project could be a large reduction in costs and could provide industry with a superior tool, which is able to cut any material without thermal damage. The AWJ world market today is about $300 millions/year. The U.S. market, alone, for metal cutting tools, is over $3.5 billion. ASJ cutting should grow rapidly to command as much as $400 million of the metal-cutting market and to dominate the cutting of brittle materials. Practical ASJ cutting will provide a new business opportunity, jobs and a unique export product.