Waterjet assembly comprising a structural waterjet nozzle

An entrainment waterjet cutting head device comprising

• a waterjet assembly comprising:
• a passaged component having an elongate passage bore extending through the passaged component and adapted to be connected to a source of pressurised water, a direction of flow of said pressurised water through the assembly defining an upstream direction and a downstream direction, and
• a waterjet nozzle for converting water pressure energy to kinetic energy to form a high velocity waterjet, said waterjet nozzle being of superhard material and comprising a nozzle bore converging from a wider upstream end to a narrower downstream end, wherein
• the passaged component and the waterjet nozzle are arranged such that pressurised water from the source of pressurized water flows through the passaged component to and through said nozzle bore in the waterjet nozzle to generate said high velocity waterjet, and wherein
• in use of the waterjet assembly, a downstream face of the passaged component is forced against an upstream face of the waterjet nozzle to form a seal;
• a chamber traversed in use by said high velocity waterjet,
• an abrasive inlet for in flow of abrasive particles suspended in a carrier fluid, aid abrasive inlet leading to said chamber,
• an outlet tube extending downstream from the chamber, coaxially with the passage bore and the nozzle bore, such that the high velocity waterjet entrains the abrasive particles and the carrier fluid from the abrasive inlet and passes into the outlet tube, whereby momentum transferred from said high velocity waterjet to the abrasive particles within the outlet tube and an abrasive machining jet is emitted from the cutting head device, and
• a cutting head body.

A waterjet assembly for an entrainment waterjet cutting head device, said waterjet assembly comprising:

• a passaged component having an elongate passage bore extending through said passaged component, and being connectable to a source of pressurised water such that a direction of flow of said pressurised water through the waterjet assembly defines an upstream direction and a downstream direction;
• a waterjet nozzle to form a high velocity waterjet, said waterjet nozzle comprising a superhard material and having a nozzle bore extending through it that converges from a wider upstream end to a narrower downstream end;
• the passage bore of the passaged component and the nozzle bore of the waterjet nozzle being coaxially aligned to permit said pressurised water to flow to the nozzle bore and be emitted from the narrower downstream end of the nozzle bore as said high velocity waterjet;
• and
• a downstream face of the passaged component being forced in use against an upstream face of the waterjet nozzle to form a seal.