A Study of Corrugated Board Cutting By High Velocity Liquid Jet

The application of high velocity liquid jets for corrugated board cutting was investigated. Eleven, types of corrugated board ranging from 91 pounds per 1,000 square feet board weight (125 psi – nominal burst test) to 297 pounds Per 1,000 square feet (350 psi – burst test) were selected for the study. Plain water or water with polymer additive were used as the cutting fluids. The conditions under which the cutting of corrugated boards was carried out were as follows: nozzle diameters 0.0082 and 0.0102 in., pressure levels 20,000, 30,000, and 40,000 psi; feed rates 300, 500, and 700 fpm. The obtained results indicate that slitting speeds with high velocity liquid jets are well above those achievable by the existing conventional methods. It has also been shown that the use of a low concentration of polyethylene oxide (Polyox WSR – 301) resulted in a marked increase in cutting efficiency as compared with plain water. The wetting of corrugated boards during the cutting operation has been found insignificant and as such can be neglected. It has been demonstrated that the edgewise compression strength of corrugated board, cut with the liquid jet, is almost twice that cut with the typical conventional slitter. Based on the analysis of scanning electron micrographs it has been observed that the principal failure mechanism during cutting with high velocity liquid jet involves breaking of the interfiber bond with resulting of separation of fibers. Corrugated board cutting with high velocity liquid jets has been found to eliminate crushing and tearing of the board as well as dust generation. The concept provides a means to reduce trim waste and particle contamination. Jet cutting is ideally suited for numerically controlled systems and appears to lend itself for adaptation to commercial application.

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