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Experimental investigation of process parameters of fibre LASER on cutting

quality of stainless steel 304- A review

Article · April 2016

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International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering,

Science & Technology
e-ISSN: 2393-9877, p-ISSN: 2394-2444

Volume 3, Issue 4, April-2016

EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PROCESS PARAMETERS OF
FIBRE LASER ON CUTTING QUALITY OF STAINLESS STEEL 304- A
REVIEW
Yamesh Patel1, Arif Varsi2, Shalin Marathe3
1
(Student, M.E. Department of Production Engineering, S.N.P.I.T. & R.C., Bardoli, Gujarat, India.)
2
(Asst. Prof., Department of Production Engineering, S.N.P.I.T. & R.C., Bardoli, Gujarat, India.)
3
(Asst. Prof., Department of Production Engineering, S.N.P.I.T. & R.C., Bardoli, Gujarat, India.)

ABSTRACT

Fibre laser is a newer technology in laser cutting. Also, available at different power levels and very narrow spot
size. Stainless Steel is widely used in industries throughout the world. It requires higher power due to the
hardness and reflectivity. Therefore fibre laser are used for cutting Stainless Steel(SS-304). The aim of this work
is to study the influence of process parameters namely: laser power, cutting speed, assist gas pressure on cutting
quality like kerf width using AUTOCAD and surface roughness using profile meter SJ-201 (MITUTOYO).
Design of Experiment (DOE) like FULL FACTORIAL method will be used to find the number of experiment
runs to perform on the fibre laser machines. A regression analysis will be used to find the relation between
process parameters and response. Also the interaction between process parameters and its effect on response
will be done by ANOVA analysis.

1. INTRODUCTION

Laser is the acronym of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation. Laser is light of special
properties, light is electromagnetic (EM) wave in visible range. Main six processes are doing for Light
Emission: Absorption, Spontaneous Emission, Stimulated Emission, Population Inversion, Gain and Loss. A
laser device is consisted of: (1) Laser medium like atoms, molecules, ions or semiconductor crystals; (2)
Pumping process to excite these atoms into higher quantum mechanical energy levels; and (3) suitable optical
feedback that allow the beam of radiation to either pass once through the laser medium or bounce back and forth
repeatedly through the laser medium. Lasers have now found applications in almost every field of engineering,
medicine, commercially etc.

Laser cutting is a thermal based non-contact process capable of cutting complex contour on material with high
degree of precision and accuracy. It involves process of heating, melting and evaporation of material in a small
well defined area and capable of cutting almost all materials. The word LASER stands for Light Amplification
by Simulated Emission of Radiation). Laser has a wide range of applications, ranging from military weapons to
medical instruments. In industries laser is used as an unconventional method for cutting and welding. The main
advantage of laser cutting is that, it is a non-contact operative method from which a good precise cutting of
complicated shapes can be achieved. Also laser can be used to cut variety of materials like wood, ceramic,
rubber, plastic and certain metals. The most commonly used types of laser for laser cutting are CO 2 laser and
Nd: YAG laser. Due to low laser absorptivity of aluminium and back reflection, high laser power is required to
cut Aluminium. CO2 laser has a wavelength of about 10.6μm due to this CO2 laser has high power output when
compared to Nd: YAG laser. Thus for cutting aluminium and aluminium based alloys CO2 laser can be used.
The working principle of laser cutting is a thermal, non-contact and highly automated process well suited for
various manufacturing industries to produce components in large numbers with high dimensional accuracy and
surface finish. They also stated that high power density beam when focused in a spot melts and evaporates
material in a fraction of second and the evaporated molten material is removed by a coaxial jet of assist gas from
the affected zone as shown in figure. Industrial users of laser technology have demanded laser systems with
higher powers. A fibre laser is a type of solid state laser that's been rapidly growing within the metal cutting
industry. Unlike CO2, Fibre technology utilizes a solid gain medium, as opposed to a gas or liquid. The fibre
laser produce laser beam and amplified within glass fibre. With a wavelength of only 1.064 micrometers fibre
lasers produce an extremely small spot size (up to 100 times smaller compared to the CO 2) making it ideal for
cutting reflective metal material. This is one of the main advantages of fibre compared to CO [Link] such
as cutting, welding, piercing and drilling could be enhanced by the development of more powerful lasers with

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 International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (IJAREST)
Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, e-ISSN: 2393-9877, print-ISSN: 2394-2444

high beam quality, efficiency and stability. Several solid state laser structures have been developed such as rod,
disk and fibre. Fibre/disk lasers are designed to minimise thermal distortion and provide light brightness beam.
Both fibre/disk lasers have a 1.06µm wavelength. Likewise several kinds of fibre laser systems in terms of laser
source have been developed: single emitter, modular and high power fibre lasers. Regarding optical fibres,
single-clad and double-clad fibres have been used.

Figure 1.1: Principle of laser cutting system

1.1 TYPES OF LASER

There are three main types of lasers used in laser cutting:
1. CO2 laser
2. Nd:YAG laser
3. Fibre laser
1.1.1 CO2 LASER
Because of their ability to produce very high power with relative efficiency, carbon dioxide (CO 2) lasers are
used primarily for materials-processing applications. The standard output of these lasers is at 10.6 mm, and
output power can range from less than 1W to more than 10 kW. Unlike atomic lasers, CO 2 lasers work with
molecular transitions (vibrational and rotational states) which lie at low enough energy levels that they can be
populated thermally, and an increase in the gas temperature, caused by the discharge, will cause a decrease in
the inversion level, reducing output power. To counter this effect, high-power cw CO2 lasers use flowing gas
technology to remove hot gas from the discharge region and replace it with cooled (or cooler) gas. With pulsed
CO2 lasers that use transverse excitation, the problem is even more severe, because, until the heated gas between
the electrodes is cooled, a new discharge pulse cannot form properly. A variety of types of CO 2 lasers are
available. High-power pulsed and CW lasers typically use a transverse gas flow with fans which move the gas
through a laminar-flow discharge region, into a cooling region, and back again. Low-power lasers most often
use waveguide structures, coupled with radio-frequency excitation, to produce small, compact systems.
However, the major difference is that the gases in the system are extremely corrosive and great care must be
taken in the selection and passivation of materials to minimize their corrosive effects. A system built for CO 2
would fail in minutes, if not seconds. The principal advantage of an CO 2 laser is its very short wavelength. The
laser output beam can be focused to a spot diameter that is approximately 40 times smaller than the CO 2 laser
beam with the same beam quality. Furthermore, whereas the long CO2 wavelength removes material thermally
via evaporation (boiling off material), the CO2 lasers with wavelengths near 200 nm remove material via
ablation (breaking molecules apart), without any thermal damage to the surrounding material.
1.2 ADVANTAGES OF LASER CUTTING
Advantages of laser cutting over mechanical cutting include easier work holding and reduced contamination of
work piece. Precision may be better, since the laser beam does not wear during the process. There is also a
reduced chance of warping the material that is being cut, as laser systems have a small heat-affected zone. Some
materials are also very difficult or impossible to cut by more traditional methods. Advantage of LBC includes:
 complex figures can easily be cut by incorporating CNC motion equipment

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 International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (IJAREST)
Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, e-ISSN: 2393-9877, print-ISSN: 2394-2444

 high cutting speeds

 low distortion
 low dross
 minimal heat affected zones
 very high edge cut quality
 very narrow kerf width
 Efficient processing, as multiple jobs or parts can be nested and cut in a single program
 No secondary cleanup process required for most materials, and is usually ready for immediate shipment
 Reliable
1.3 DISADVANTAGES OF LASER CUTTING
While some disadvantages to laser cutting exist, the benefits far outweigh the downsides.
 High power consumption
 Can be expensive
 Rate of production depends on the material
 Poorly adjust lasers can cause burning
 Difficulty in cutting reflective metals (like copper, brass, and sometimes aluminium)
1.4 APPLICATIONS OF LASER CUTTING
In the industry the users of the laser cutting process stretches far, from big companies down to small shops
creating products where the company can utilize the advantages of the laser cutting process. It could be
companies that specializes in the laser cutting process but also companies that uses the process as a means of
being able to create products without being specialists in the laser cutting process. Laser cutting in metal is
today the most used laser processing process in the industry with over 40% of the laser processing market
shares.
Other uses of laser cutting are:
 Wood
 Paper
 Leather
 Glass
 Ceramic
 Steel
 Titanium
 Wax
 Plastic
 Fabric
 Medical
 Laser cutting is most often seen in industries that demand a lot of thin metal parts
 This includes:
 Automotive
 Architectural
 Retail Displays
 Art and Structural

2. LITERATURE REVIEW

Mirosla Radovanovic and Milos Madic this paper aim is to improving the cutting quality laser cutting. laser
cutting is most widely used non-contact type machining process. The experimental investigation on laser cutting
of various material and identify most common parameters analyzed cut quality. The review shows that laser
power, cutting speed and assist gas and pressure are most affected parameter on cutting quality.
The cut quality includes kerf width, surface roughness, HAZ. The experimental data are optimized using DOE
and find optimum combination of process parameters.

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 International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (IJAREST)
Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, e-ISSN: 2393-9877, print-ISSN: 2394-2444

Figure 2.1: Laser cut

A. Riveiro, "The role of the assist gas nature in laser cutting of aluminium alloys" have been studied that the
process relies on the removal of the melted material with the aid of a pressurized assist gas. Among the main
variables controlling the process, the assist gas type is an essential factor. This gas is normally chosen taking
into account the material to be processed and the required cut quality. While the effect of the utilization of
different assist gas is perfectly studied in cutting steels, the influence of the assist gas type during laser cutting
of aluminium alloys is not well studied. This work presents a study on the influence of different assist gases
(argon, nitrogen, oxygen and air) on the edge quality and its surface chemistry during laser cutting of a typical
Al-Cu alloy. After investigation the Results indicate a clear influence of the assist gas nature on the finishing
characteristics. Formation of oxides and nitrides were observed to modify the cut quality and cutting speed.
Oxygen, nitrogen and compressed air react to a greater or lesser extent with the molten material generating a
large amount of oxides and/or nitrides. This largely affects the cutting speed and cut quality of the obtained cuts.
On the other hand, argon was arisen as the more efficient assist gas to obtain best quality results and with the
higher efficiency. Then, from the point of view of quality and efficiency argon is the best choice for processing
Al-Cu alloys.

K. Abdel Ghany and M Newishy, "Cutting of 12mm thick austenitic stainless steel sheet using pulsed and CW
Nd:YAG laser". In this article the work aims to evaluate the optimum laser cutting parameters for 1.2 mm
austenitic stainless steel sheets by using pulsed and CW Nd:YAG laser beam and nitrogen or oxygen as assistant
gases, each one separately. For cutting stainless steel by pulsed and CW Nd:YAG laser, it was shown that the
laser cutting quality depends mainly on the laser power, pulse frequency, cutting speed and focus position.
Increasing the frequency and cutting speed decreased the kerf width and the roughness of cut surface, while
increasing the power and gas pressure increased the kerf width and roughness. Comparing with oxygen, nitrogen
produced brighter and smoother cut surface with smaller kerf, although it did not prove to be economical. In
CW mode, the speed can be increased to more than 8 m/min with equivalent power and
gas pressure (limited by the laser system). Pulsed mode was also not economical, especially in limited frequency
laser systems, where the pulse overlap should be controlled by both frequency and speed. In CW, the speed can
be increased to the maximum system limit.
P.S. Chaudhari et al, This paper reviews the research work carried out in the area of laser cutting process and
artificial intelligence. In artificial intelligence use for prediction model for given input data of laser cutting
operation. There are many factors that effect on performance of cutting process. Our aim is to identify more
effective factor which give the significant effect on cutting quality of material. After studying the paper
conclude that laser power and cutting speed plays a significant effect on laser cutting.
Artificial Intelligence the branch of computer science that is concerned with the automation of intelligent
behaviour. This generally involves borrowing characteristics from human intelligence, and applying them as
algorithms in a computer friendly way. A more or less flexible or efficient approach can be taken depending on

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 International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (IJAREST)
Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, e-ISSN: 2393-9877, print-ISSN: 2394-2444

the requirements established, which are use for prediction of result and also save the time and money of
experiment work.

Figure 2.2: Variation of kerf deviation and kerf width with experiment number

Figure 2.3: Effect of factor levels on multiple S/N ratio (0.9mm Al-Alloy sheet)
Miroslav Radovanovic and Predrag Dasic, mansion that cut quality is a very important characteristic on
cutting of contour shape. This paper gives results of the experimental research referring to the determination of
surface indicators obtained by laser cutting. In experiment observation carried out on two zones upper and lower
one. The surface finish is good whose mutual distance is 0.1---0.2mm while the latter has rougher surface due to
deposits of molten metal and slag. Rz increase with sheet thickness and decrease with increase of laser power.
By cutting with laser of 800W standard roughness Rz is 10µm for 1mm thickness, 20µm for 3mm and 25µm for
6mm.

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 International Journal of Advance Research in Engineering, Science & Technology (IJAREST)
Volume 3, Issue 4, April 2016, e-ISSN: 2393-9877, print-ISSN: 2394-2444

Figure 2.4: Picture of laser cut

[Link]

 The present papers indicate that the process parameters like Laser power, cutting speed, assist gas
pressure, stand of distance are major influence on cutting quality like kerf width, surface roughness,
depth of cut and also vary with type of materials and thickness.
 After studies some research papers based on influence of process parameters on cutting quality, D.O.E
(design of experiment) methods like TAGUCHI, ANOVA, ANN, Response Surface Method (RSM) are
very effectiveness to optimized process parameters of laser cutting.

REFERENCES

1. [Link] al,“Parametric Investigation of Process Parameters for Laser Cutting Process”,

International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology(IJIRSET), Vol.
4, Issue 5, May 2015.
2. Miroslav Radovanovic and Milos Madic,“Experimental Investigations Of Co2 Laser Cut Quality”
University of Nis, Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Nis, Serbia, Nonconventional Technologies
Review – no. 4/2011.
3. [Link], “The Role of the Assist GasNature in Laser Cutting of Aluminium Alloys”. Physics
Procedia, pages 548–554, 2011.
4. K.A. Ghany, and [Link]. “Cutting of 12mm thick austenitic stainless steel sheet using pulsed and
CW Nd:YAG laser”. JMPT, pages 438–447, 2005.
5. P. S. Chaudhariet al, “Artificial Intelligence apply for prediction of Laser Cutting Process”,
International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications (IJERA) ISSN: 2248-9622 Vol. 2,
Issue 4, July-August 2012, pp.1025-1028.

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