NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF FASHION TECHNOLOGY,

GANDHINAGAR

SPME END TERM JURY

Ultrasonic, Laser, Plasma

And Water jet Cutting
Under The Guidance of:1

Mr. Pavan Godiawala

Presented By:
NIVEDITA KUMARI
( DFT-4)

Cutting
It is the process which cut out the pattern pieces
from specified fabric for making garments.
Types of Fabric cutting machines:
i. Manual, e.g. scissors, cutters.
ii. Semi-automatic, e.g. Band knife cutter, Round
knife cutter, etc.
iii. Automatic cutting, e.g. Cnc cutting..
iv. Power driven machine, e.g. Laser, plasma, etc
Cutting

Manual Cutting Machines

Laser guided scissors

Electric Scissors

Semi-Automatic Cutting Machines

Straight knife

Round knife

Band knife

Automatic Cutting Machines

Computer Numerically Controlled

Fabric Cutting Machine

Power Driven Cutting Machines

Laser cutting machine Ultrasonic cutting

Plasma cutting machine

ULTRASONIC CUTTING MACHINE

What are ultrasonic

waves?
Ultrasonic waves are an "inaudible
sound,"
the
frequency
of
which
generally exceeds 20 kHz. A 20-kHz
frequency means that a certain medium
vibrates 20,000 times per second.

Elements required
1. GENERATER
Generator
Power: 75 / 150 /300 / 600 / 1,200 W
Frequency: 20 or 30 KHz
Supply: 110 / 220 v A/C

2.

A CONVERTER

Converter
Aluminium outer body
Frequency: 20 or 30 kHz
Diameter: 42 / 50 / 76 / 82 mm

3. A BOOSTER
Boosters
Aluminium or titanium
Frequency: 20 or 30 KHz
Diameter: 42 / 76 /82

4. A HORN
Sonotrodes/ horns
Wide range of sonotrodes for
various applications such as:
Textile cutting, Plastic welding
and Food cutting
10

11

Principle of Operation
The ultrasonic generator converts the power supply (100-250 Volts,

50-60 Hz) into a 20 to 30 kHz, 800-1000 Volts electrical signal. This

signal is applied to piezo-electrical ceramics (included in the
converter) that will convert this signal into mechanical oscillations.
These oscillations will be amplified by the booster and converter,

thus creating a hammer. The converter converts electricity into

high frequency mechanical vibration. The active elements are
usually piezo- electrics ceramics. The booster (optional) serves as
an amplitude transformer. Amplitude magnification or reduction is
achieved by certain design features or the geometrical shape of
the booster.
The horn, is the active part of the ultrasonic unit. It is in contact

12

with the fabric and acts as a hammer against the counter-tool. This
system will enable to melt the fiber within the fabric by mechanical
action only (hammering), enabling to obtain a very clean and
flexible melting without any burning or colour change.

13

Piezoelectric crystals are small scale energy sources. Whenever

piezoelectric crystals are mechanically deformed or subject to
vibration they generate a small voltage, commonly know as

Ultrasonic

Cutters

Movement of cutter

14

Ultrasonic cutter of different sizes

Features of cutters used in

ultrasonic cutting machines
High performance cutting
Over 25mm tool travel,
Micro-stepper drive motors
Low cost consumable blades
Runs from Macintosh or Windows PCs
Low maintenance
Cutting widths up to 6.5m (256")
Cutting lengths up to 25m (82 feet)

15

Application of ultrasonic
The most application of ultrasonic onto fabric is
ultrasonic fabric cutting
ultrasonic lacing and
ultrasonic sewing (sealing),
applying a roller to ultrasonic horn to transmit
ultrasonic energy onto fabric and a roller as working
tooling under pressure to process on fabric to form
sewing (sealing), cutting or lacing. This procedure is
widely applied in garment industry, such as for
underwear, bra, sport wear, etc, and medical
industry, such as face mask, surgical cap,
surgical gown, etc.
16

Fabric cutting
Automated Ultrasonic Cutters are brilliantly
effective machines for cutting and edgesealing synthetic fabric.
Offering

production
speeds
better
than
conventional cutters, Ultrasonic cutters can carry
both ultrasonic and crush cutting tools giving
users the full choice of cutting and sealing
technologies to get the best results on any fabric.

Because more than one pattern can be nested

17

and cut on a vacuum table bed without moving

the fabric, not only is production speed increased,

Jentschmanns 35 kHz ultrasonic cutting machine

Specifications
SPEED 0-18 m/min
MATERIALS CUT 100 % synthetic

or blends with up to 40 % natural

fibers.
MAXIMUM HEIGHT

upto 10 plies
can be cut (mostly single ply)

POWER REQUIRED 1400W

ULTRASONICALLY

DRIVEN

KNIFE

BLADE
35kHz VIBRATION FREQUENCY
CAUSES ONLY LOCALISED HEAT IN

18

Jentschmanns 35 kHz
ultrasonic
cutting
machine

THE TEXTILE FIBRES.

MADE

UP OF ALUMMINIUM
TITANIUM ALLOYS -

OR

Ultrasonic fabric cutting

Cons
Pros
Clean

separation
of
materials with sealed edges
Cutting and edge sealing in
one process
Continuous cutting method
using the rotary horn

Very
low
power
consumption
Productivity
increases
of
better than three times.
Reduced mistakes.
Reduced waste fabric.
19

The machining area and

the depth of cut are quite

restricted.
It is necessary to clean
the blade frequently to
avoid persistent residues
that cause a change in
frequency of vibrations
and damage the blade.
The ultrasonic technology
is
new
and
hence
presently expensive.

Ultrasonic lacing:

20

Ultrasonic lace machine

Roller

21

Characteristics
Power Supply: 220V5V 50Hz
(60Hz)
Working Frequency: 20KHz
Output Frequency: 1500W
Working Speed: 0-18M/min
Effective Breadth: 0.1-150MM
Materials Suitable: polyester,
nylon, chemical and nonwoven fabrics
Total weight: 150 Kgs
Price: 1700$

Ultrasonic Sewing (Sealing):

22

Ultrasonic Quilting Machine

model no.

23

KQ-1600

Roller width

Max.1600 mm

Working Speed

5-15meter/min

Ultrasonic
system

Frequency 20 khz

Air pressure

6 kg

Total weight

2500 kg

Dimension
(LxWxH)

2500 x 4500 x2
000

Price
APPLICATION

3500$

Car covers ,chair covers, blanket

bed
covers,
pillow
cover,
aprons ,winter jackets etc

LASER CUTTING
MACHINES

Laser Cutting
LASER- Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission

of Radiation.
Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut
materials, and is typically used for industrial
manufacturing applications.
In industrial cutting, the materials are either burns
or melt or vaporized away by a jet of gas leaving an
edge with a high quality surface finish.
Three main types of laser are1) Carbon dioxide laser- cutting, engraving.
2) Nd(neodymium)- Boring
3)ND-YAG(neodymium yttrium-aluminium-garnet)very high
energy pulses, used in boring and
engraving

Principle of laser action

Laser Development
Process
1.) Pumping- In Laser, Lasing medium is
pumped to get atoms to an excited
state(higher energy levels).
2.) Stimulated Emission of atoms- This
creates a large collection of excited state
atoms, thus degree of population inversion
increases.
3.) Reflection- The lasing process is enriched
by multiple reflection between mirrors.

Laser cutting Machine

A diagram of a laser

beam delivery system in

laser cutting machine-:
1. CO2laser resonator,
where the excitation of
carbon atoms produces
single wavelength light
emission.
2. Depolarising mirror
3 and 4. Telescope optics
5. beam benders
6. Focussing lens
7. Cutting head
8. Cutting nozzle
9. Work material sheet

Laser Cutting Machine

Configuration
Generally, there are two different configurations of
industrial laser cutting machines :
Moving material
Flying optic system.
These refer to the way that the laser beam is moved over
the material to be cut.
The axes of motion are typically designated x and y
axis. If the cutting head may be controlled it is
designated as the z axis.
Speed of Laser cutting machine- 30-40m/min
Gas
used in Laser Cutting machine- CO2
(wavelength- 10600nm)
Textiles suitable forlaser cutting:
Felt,Fleece,Lace,PolyesterSilk,Synthetic fabric

Fabric and Metal Laser Cutting

Machines
Metals usually cut through by

melt and blow process. The

material is heated to melting
point then a gas jet blows the
molten material which result in
cutting.
While fabrics are generally cut
by burning.
Provides easier holding and
reduced work piece in metals but
in fabric cutting , process become
bit labor consuming because each
ply has to picked separately.

Laser cutting of
metals

Laser cutting of
fabrics.

Various uses of laser cutting in

garment industry

FASHION Specialty
Design
by
cutting
patterns and creating
special
effects.
The
graphics
of
different
shapes and sizes can be

ENGRAVING can be
done
by
laser
machine
and
engraving output
graphics
can
be
change at any time

Various uses of laser cutting in

garment industry

GARMENT DESIGNSCutting of garment

panels with intricate
cut through designs
makes a quick and
inexpensive item for
production samples.

STENCILS-Examples:
Plastic
letters,
Industrial
Stencil
Markers, House hold
decoration, Gaskets.

Laser Cutting
pros

cons

Very high speed cutting

Not suitable for cutting

No bending or twisting of textiles

multi layer of fabric

Not suitable for synthetic
fabric.
Possibility
of
burning
In the case of synthetic
fibres: formation of a
fused seam.

and fabrics
No fraying of the fabric:
The
laser beam melts the
material and the result are clean,
perfectly sealed edges. It is
guaranteed that there will be no
fraying of the end products.
Laser engraving, laser marking
and laser cutting all in one step
Simple production via a PC
design program
Single ply laser cutters also
make it possible to cut by colorSealed Edges of the fabric

Single Ply Cutting

Because it suffers
from limited depth of
focus,
penetrating
power is less and other
reason includes, the
heat produced tends to
seal
fabric
edges,
which is disadvantage
for cutting multiple
plies because edges
may fuse together.

image source = https://editd.com/blog/2012/05/the-laser-display-cuttin

Garment Industrial Laser

Cutting and Engraving Machine
(GLC-1680)

Basic

Information GLC-1680

Model

Laser type

Glass CO2 laser tube

Laser power

65w/70w/80w100w/12
0w/150w

Engraving area

1600 800

Engraving speed

0-64m/min

Cutting speeds

0-36m/min

Moving system

CNC control system

Life Hours of Laser

Tube

Max. 10000 Hours

Cooling mode

Water-cooling and
protection system

Whole power

1250w

Working voltage

220 10%
50Hz(60Hz)

Operating
temperature

0~45 C

Controlling software

Glorystar laser
software

Graphic format
supported

CAD BMP, JPG, PNG,

TIF, PCX, TAG, IOO,
GIF, PLT

Gross weight

170kg/230kg/270kg/3

Factors that should be

considered before buying laser
cutting machine.
Laser power
Laser type
Cutting speed
Movement of laser (x,y,z)
Maximum width that can be cut.
Laser cutting depth
Materials that can be cut.
Cooling mode
Working area/ Processing area
Working voltage
Life hours of laser tube.
Graphic format supported and controlling software,

etc.

Present Figures of laser products

made and Its Top manufacturers

source = https://editd.com/blog/2012/05/the-laser-display-cutting-edge-ofa-trend/

PLASMA CUTTING
MACHINES

Plasma
Plasma can be defined as a

partially or wholly ionized

gas with a roughly equal
number of positively and
negatively charged particles.
Some
scientists
have
dubbed plasma the fourth
state of matter because
while plasma is neither gas
nor liquid, its properties are
similar to those of both
gases and liquids.

Plasma
cutting
The plasma is sufficiently hot to melt the

metal being cut and moves sufficiently fast

to blow molten metal away from the cut.
Plasma is an effective means of cutting thin
and thick materials alike.
Plasma cutting is used to cut
ferrous (stainless steel, cast iron, pig steel,
etc.)
non-ferrous metal (aluminum, copper, tool
steel, die steel, lead, nickel, tin, titanium and
zinc, and alloys such as brass, etc).

Parts of a Plasma Cutting Torch

multicam.ca

How Plasma Cutter Works??

Working of plasma cutter

Plasma cutters work by sending a pressurized gas

(nitrogen, argon, or oxygen) through a small

channel. In the middle of this channel, a
negatively charged electrode exists. When
applying power to the negative electrode, and
connecting the tip of the nozzle to the metal, the
bond creates a circuit.
This will generate a powerful spark, created
through the electrode and metal bond. As the gas
passes through the channel, the spark boosts the
temperature of the gas until it reaches the fourth
state of matter called plasma..

Pros:
It requires no preheating so that the torch can begin its

cutting immediately, which saves time and is more

convenient.
Cuts any type of electrically conductive metals including
aluminium, copper, brass and stainless steel, that is 160
mm thick.
Its speed is up to 500 IPM(inches per minute).
It has adjustable post flow cooling and over current

warning facility.
Lower price and operating costs.
It is safe and offers a quality system that draw smoke

away from the operator.

Cons :
It requires frequent replacement of some spare parts if it

is not used properly.

Cut quality
Factors to consider in evaluating the quality
of a cut include:
surface smoothness,
kerf width,
kerf angle(normally 5 to 6 degrees),
dross adherence and sharpness of the top
edge,
the type of material being cut,
the equipment being used and
the cutting conditions.
After plasma cutting

Plasma Cutting In Textiles(research going

on)

WATER-JET
CUTTING
MACHINES

INTRODUCTION TO WATER JET

Water jet cutting involves using an extremely

fine jet of water travelling at high velocity, into

which an abrasive material is mixed for cutting
hard materials such as granite and titanium.
This process makes a very fine cut into the
material, known as a kerf.

PRINCIPLE OF WATERJET CUTTING

Water jet cutting machine works on the following principle: A high pressure pump produces water at pressures up to

4100 bar .
The high pressure water is delivered to a cutting head by

a small bore stainless steel pipe.

At this point it is passed through a very small orifice

made from sapphire or diamond which produces an

extremely thin, high velocity jet of water.
The excess water jet energy that exists after the jet has

cut through the material, is absorbed by the tank of

A waterjet
machine

Picture depicting
working principle
of waterjet
machine.

WATERJET CUTTING
MACHINE
DIAGRAM OF A WATER JET
CUTTER
1 - High-pressure water inlet
2 - Jewel (ruby or diamond)
3 - Abrasive (garnet)
4 - Mixing tube
5 - Guard
6 - Cutting water jet
7 - Cut material

MAJOR PARTS
HIGH PRESSURE WATER INLET
INTENSIFIER PUMP

This type of pump uses hydraulic pressure

developed by an electric Motor driving a
hydraulic pump, which in turn drives a
single piston backwards and forwards in a
long slow stroke, compressing the water
and developing pressures up to 4100 bar.
.

Intensifier pump

MIXING CHAMBER

ABRASIVE
The abrasive used in water jet cutting is typically a
Garnet , aluminum
silicon

oxide , olivine ,

silica

sand ,

carbide , etc type of 80 up to 120 microns in

diameter.
The quality of this abrasive has a great influence on the
cutting power of the water jet.
create very little dust and be environmentally friendly.

PARAMETERS AFFECTING THE

PERFORMANCE OF WJM

WATERJET
CUTTING

ADVANTAGES
There are no heat affected zones.
Up to 12 inch thickness.

Cuts Complex Shapes without discoloring or melting metal.

Cheaper than other processes.
Cut any material.
DISADVANTAGE
S

Abrasive powder cannot be reused.

Very thick parts can not be cut with Water Jet.

It has a limited number of materials can be cut economically.

WJM is very expensive process.

CUTTING RATES FOR DIFFERENT

MATERIAL THICKNESSES

Model WC5WA1313H of
IWM
Specification
High pressure pump type:
intensifier.
Maximum pressure: 400br.
Maximum water flow rate :
3.4L/minute
water tank made of stainless steel.
Effective cutting area: 4ft x 4 ft
(1300x1300mm)
Travels in x-y-z axis.
Maximum Z-axis travel: 6"
(150mm)
Approximate size of water tank:
60" x 32" x 55"
(1600x800x1400mm)
Price:4500$

References
http://www.sonicitalia.com/en/ultrasonic/ultrasonic

60

-cutting.html
http://www.decoup.com/
http://www.asiamachinery.net/supplier/product_
details.asp?ProID=1570&SupID=1052
www.belsonicmachines.com
http://www.iwmwaterjet.com/product_spec/WC5
WA1313H.htm
www.aeronaut.org
www.jentschmann.ch
www.ehow.com
http://www.kkindustrialmachines.in/garment-texti
le-machine.html
http://www.jenchmann.ch/services/ultraschall-sch

References continued
http://www.etlaser.com/support/laser-cutting-machine-

used-in-garments-industry.html
http://www.gboslaser.net/Garment_Industry/index.htm
http://www.lasercutfabric.com
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_cutting
www.epiloglaser.com
http://www.troteclaser.com/en-US/Materials/Pages/Mate
rial-Overview.aspx
http://www.scribd.com/doc/75692952/Cutting-Machinesin-Apparel-Industry#scribd
http://www.engadget.com/2014/06/17/laser-cut-clothing
-explainer/
http://www.gboslaser.net/Garment_Industry/index.htm
http://www.cutlasercut.com/getting-started/laser-cutte
rs-and-laser-engravers