Abrasive Water Jet is the technology used by Precision Waterjet to cut virtually any shape in any material.

You may have heard of the terms "Waterjet" and "Abrasive jet". Abrasive jets are not the same thing as water jets, although they are nearly the same. Water Jet technology has been around since the early 1970s or so, and abrasive jets extended the concept about 10 years later.

Both technologies use the principle of pressurizing water to extremely high pressures, and allowing the water to escape through a very small opening (typically called the "orifice" or "jewel").

Water jets use the beam of water exiting the orifice (or jewel) to cut soft materials like confectionery and foam etc. but are not effective for cutting harder materials.

Abrasive jets use that same beam of water to accelerate abrasive particles to speeds fast enough to cut through much harder materials.