Investigation of Cutting Quality of Remote DOE Laser Cutting in 0.5 mm Stainless Steel

Publication date: 2017 Source:Physics Procedia, Volume 89 Author(s): Sigurd Lazic Villumsen, Morten Kristiansen It has previously been shown that the stability of the remote fusion cutting (RFC) process can be increased by modifying the intensity profile of the laser by means of a diffractive optical element (DOE). This paper investigates the quality of remote DOE cutting (RDC) conducted with a 3kW single mode fiber laser in 0.5mm stainless steel. An automatic measurement system is used to investigate how the travel speed, focus offset and angle of incidence effect the kerf width and kerf variance. The study shows that the RDC process has a very low kerf width variance, and that the kerf width decreases with cutting speed. Furthermore, selected etched samples show a significant increase in the perpendicularity of the cuts when compared to RFC. Also, on average, the depth of the layer of molten material for RFC is 83% deeper than for RDC.

Source: Physics Procedia - September 26, 2017 Category: Physics Source Type: research