An investigation on the optimum laser machining parameters and its effect on NiTi shape memory alloy

Abstract

Nickel – Titanium (Nitinol) alloy is one of the most popular and economical SMA whose machining is difficult because of its properties. Heat has a prominent effect on this material's properties. Machining of NiTinol requires a large amount of cutting force, resulting in a high rate of tool wearing. Therefore, researchers have made an effort to ameliorate the machinability of this material to achieve a finer surface quality with the minimum heat-affected zone in the non-conventional machining process. As a Laser machine is used for various versatile machining processes at a micro level, so in this study, the objective is to find the optimum process parameters of Laser and its effect on the surface of NiTi which leads to ease machining barriers such as burr formation and crack formation, heat affected zone, white layer, recast layer and many more surface defects during laser machining. Lower frequency, high power, and lower speed in the machining process improve the mechanical properties, distortion, and residual stress. The obtained results demonstrated the optimum cutting speed in the laser machining process of NiTi alloy.