Abstract
In this paper, Taguchi method was applied to analyze the effect of the main laser cutting parameters such as the laser power, cutting speed, assist gas pressure, and focus position on the two kerf quality characteristics such as the kerf width and kerf taper. Laser nitrogen cutting of a 3 mm thick AISI 304 stainless steel was performed on a 2.2 kW CO2 laser cutting system. The laser cutting expe¬riment was planned and conducted according to the Taguchi’s experimental design using the L27 orthogonal array. From the analysis of means (ANOM), analysis of variance (ANOVA) and signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio response tables, the significant laser cutting parameters were identified and subsequently the optimal combination of parameters levels for both kerf quality characteristics were determined. The results showed that the focus position is the most significant parameter affecting the kerf quality characteristics whereas the influence of the assist gas pressure can be neglected. The optimal combination of the laser cutting parameter settings minimized the kerf width and kerf taper to 0.312 mm and 0.83°, respectively. Confirmatory experimental results showed good agreement with predicted results. The results presented in this work confirm the effectiveness of Taguchi’s method in optimization of laser cutting process. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.mech.19.5.5529
Highlights
Laser cutting is a thermal energy based advanced machining process in which material is removed by focusing the laser beam on the workpiece surface
Kt no a v: cutting speed, p: assist gas pressure, pw: pulse width, pf: pulse frequency, P: laser power, f: focus position, q: assist gas flow, d: material thickness b Kw: kerf width, Kt: kerf taper, Kd: kerf deviation, Ra: surface roughness, heat-affected zone (HAZ): heat affected zone, MRR: material removal rate, r: optical transmittance ratio, b: burr height c PCA: principal component analysis, GRA: grey relational analysis, This paper demonstrates the application of the Taguchi method (TM) for analysis of the effect of laser cutting parameters on the kerf quality characteristics and identification of the optimal cutting parameter settings in CO2 laser cutting of AISI 304 stainless steel
This study presented the Taguchi method for optimization of kerf width and kerf taper in CO2 laser cutting of AISI 304 stainless steel using nitrogen as assist gas
Summary
Laser cutting is a thermal energy based advanced machining process in which material is removed by focusing the laser beam on the workpiece surface. Laser cutting finds many applications in various manufacturing industries where a variety of components in large numbers are required to be machined with high quality and close tolerance at low costs. The wide spectrum of industrial application of the laser cutting is due to its: convenience of operation, high precision, small heat-affected zone (HAZ), minimum deformity, low cost, high product quality, high cutting speed, low level of noise, flexibility, ease of automation etc. Laser cutting became an area of great interest for research. A number of researchers performed theoretical as well as experimental investigations in order to examine the laser cutting process. Studies that focused on the development and applications of laser beam cutting techniques were reviewed in [2]
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