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

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将测试磨料浆射流（ASJ）切削工具实用喷嘴的可行性。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切割可锻性和脆性材料的速度可达4-8倍，切割质量相同。然而，目前ASJ并没有被采用（除了在低水射流速度下），因为磨料浆加速的喷嘴寿命非常短，因此不经济，即使使用金刚石喷嘴。为了实现ASJ切割的已知好处，根据计算流体动力学（CFD）分析，发明了新的喷嘴设计，这些新喷嘴设计有望产生具有经济吸引力的寿命。该项目将通过CFD分析来完善设计，然后测试一个按比例放大的低射流速度气流模型，该模型可以准确模拟流体的流线；粒子轨迹和粒子对喷嘴内表面的冲击。根据这些建模数据，可以预测腐蚀速率和喷嘴寿命。分析将影响，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。该项目的广泛影响可能是大幅降低成本，并为行业提供一种卓越的工具，能够切割任何材料而不会产生热损伤。目前，AWJ的全球市场规模约为每年3亿美元。仅美国的金属切削工具市场就超过35亿美元。ASJ切削应该会迅速增长，在金属切削市场中占有高达4亿美元的份额，并在脆性材料的切削领域占据主导地位。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.