New protective clothing materials for working with handheld ultra-high-pressure water jet guns

In many applications, hand-held water spray systems are replacing sandblasting as a cost effective and environmentally friendly alternative. In addition, waterjet technology offers new solutions for cleaning surfaces in difficult or confined spaces where sandblasting is virtually impossible. While operations in the manufacturing process are automated, water blasting requires the worker to operate a lance or spray gun by hand. Such hand-held high-pressure and ultra-high-pressure water jet lances operate at pressures of up to 3,000 bar.Due to the international lack of suitable protective clothing systems, in particular for the use of water jet lances with round jet nozzle with pressures > 500 bar, the objectives of the project were 1) the development of protectors (knee and shin protectors, gaiters, aprons) based on metallic platelet structures, which should provide effective protection against punctual sources with pressures of at least 1,550 bar when using round jet nozzle and 2) the development of a technology for sewing on the platelet structures, in particular an automatic feeding of the plates on an automatic button sewing machine.