A Study of nozzle angle in stone surface treatment with water jets

The stone surface treatment with water jet is a recently introduced method. It is used to increase the roughness to improve its antislip properties while preserving esthetic appearance of the stone without having thermal shock, mechanical stress and the production of fumes and dust. Nozzle angle is one of the important parameters affecting treatment of surface. This study is an attempt to assess the effect of nozzle angle on surface treatment quality with water jet and to determine the most suitable nozzle angle value. For this purpose, surfaces of Sardinian Basalt samples are treated with pure water jet in six different nozzle angles (15 degrees, 30 degrees, 45 degrees, 60 degrees, 75 degrees and 90 degrees). The roughness is measured on all the treated surfaces by various roughness parameters. The experimental studies showed that treatment with nozzle angle between 30 degrees and 75 degrees gives the surfaces with similar regular variation.