A Louisiana contractor working on a unique refinery project was in a bind. After two days of throwing everything they had at 1.625 in. thick Inconel pipe with a hole-boring drill, workers had yet to cut a single hole -- and they needed to cut 8 10-in. holes.
The contractor called Jet Edge in St. Michael, MN. Jet Edge confirmed that abrasive waterjet could quickly cut through the superalloy and referred the contractor to Midwest Mobile Waterjet (MMW), a St. Paul, MN-based mobile waterjet contractor with the expertise and equipment to complete the challenging project.
"Inconel is very difficult to machine or shape using traditional machining methods because it causes rapid work hardening," explained David Arthur, Jet Edge's Southeast regional manager. "Often after just the first pass, it will plastically deform either the work piece or the cutting tool. Water jet works best for Inconel due to the fact that it is a cold hypersonic grinding process. We referred the contractor to our customer Midwest Mobile Waterjet because they have the perfect Jet Edge equipment for the project and they could get it done fast."
Accepting the Challenge
MMW President Brian Gleeson took on the challenge and headed to Louisiana, armed with one of his many Jet Edge waterjet intensifier pumps and a special cutting tool that he designed for the project.
Gleeson performed a test cut and demonstrated that a 36,000 psi waterjet could cut a 10 in. hole in the Inconel in less than 30 minutes without damaging the inside of the 24 in. dia pipe, while maintaining a required tolerance of +/- 1/8 in. He made the cut using 3 lb of abrasive per min and 3 gal of water per min.
"It was obvious then and there that abrasive waterjet cutting was the right choice," he said. "Total cutting time went from days to hours and left a fantastic cut quality with no heat-affected zone."
Gleeson noted that his Jet Edge iP36-250DX intensifier pump performed flawlessly throughout the project, and said he was grateful for Jet Edge's referral.
"We like representing Jet Edge and are proud they trust our work quality enough to refer work to us," Gleeson said.
Photos courtesy Midwest Mobile Waterjet.