Diode laser assisted oxygen cutting of thick mild steel with off-axis beam delivery

Abstract

Laser assisted oxygen cutting (LASOX) of 20–40 mm thick mild carbon steel is performed using fiber-coupled diode lasers with a combined optical power of 400 W. The experimental cutting head assembly is designed to deliver the laser beam off-axis to the cutting oxygen jet. Under this non-standard beam delivery conditions, the top edge of the cut may suffer from an excessive melting, overheated by the inclined laser beam. We propose a strategy in order to diminish the top edge melting defect and demonstrate that high quality cuts can be obtained in 20 mm thick workpieces, and lower quality separation of up to 40 mm steel thickness. The experimental results demonstrate the potential of high-power diode sources in the LASOX cutting method, and the ability of relatively low power, compact and lightweight diode-based systems to cut thick sections of mild steel.