The Abrasive Waterjet Cutting Center for which proposals are being solicited via this RFP is to substantially increase the capabilities and efficiency of the professionally ran and staffed machining and fabrication facility in the research hub of the Transformative Quantum Technologies program (RAC2).
An Abrasive Waterjet Cutting Center will be able to better meet demands for custom parts originating not only from the TQT ensemble but from the entire UW community. Industry wide, waterjet cutting has been proven to be one of the most efficient ways (both in speed and cost of operation) of shaping a very broad spectrum of materials, ranging from basic metals, to super alloys and plastics to composites and even glasses and ceramics. The cutting mechanism at work is a high pressure jet of water mixed with an abrasive directed at a workpiece. The abrasive action will precisely cut a fine kerf in the material with very high aspect ratio (up to 200) of kerf width and workpiece thickness. No special tooling for each variety of material is needed and no change in setup or fixturing is required, saving in time as well as operating costs. This method of cutting generates very little heat, as opposed to comparable techniques such as plasma-cutting, laser-cutting or flame-cutting (-techniques mostly restricted to metals-) and will therefore not alter the material properties which can be of essence in the typical research conducted with the resulting parts.
