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Enhanced LASOX cutting with a Yb-fibre laser

Enhanced LASOX cutting with a Yb-fibre laser
Enhanced LASOX cutting with a Yb-fibre laser
Laser cutting is the largest laser material processing technology deployed in modern industries, and the 10.6 µm wavelength CO2 laser is the most used laser source for this process. One advantage that lasers have over conventional thermal cutting processes, such as plasma and flame, is the instantaneous energy transfer, and narrow kerf, which can result in higher cutting speed and therefore lower processing cost. Normally, in the laser cutting process, a minimum focus beam diameter is located on or into the material surface; depending on the laser power density, this leads to melting and vaporisation of the material. A gas jet, coaxial with the laser beam, creates a narrow kerf-channel and flushes away the melted volume of material; but the process becomes less effective as the material thickness increases and conventional cutting using lasers in the 2 to 6 kW power range is restricted to a thickness of less than 25 mm in stainless steel. However, using an oxygen assist gas jet on carbon steel allows thicker material to be cut, since in addition to blowing away the debris the exothermic oxidation reaction can add 25% more energy to the cutting process.
Also see AILU newsletter, link below.
1755-5140
Khan, A.
6cb85452-b54e-494b-8ff6-6b921bc02421
Sparkes, M.
501cd914-0799-4c8b-80c1-b5e5afaa07b6
O'Neill, W.
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Flanagan, J.C.
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Malinowski, A.
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Nilsson, J.
f41d0948-4ca9-4b93-b44d-680ca0bf157b
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3
Khan, A.
6cb85452-b54e-494b-8ff6-6b921bc02421
Sparkes, M.
501cd914-0799-4c8b-80c1-b5e5afaa07b6
O'Neill, W.
5e56926d-286d-41aa-8f2c-a8e44f822132
Flanagan, J.C.
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Malinowski, A.
54fd31d4-b510-4726-a8cd-33b6b2ad0427
Nilsson, J.
f41d0948-4ca9-4b93-b44d-680ca0bf157b
Richardson, D.J.
ebfe1ff9-d0c2-4e52-b7ae-c1b13bccdef3

Khan, A., Sparkes, M., O'Neill, W., Flanagan, J.C., Malinowski, A., Nilsson, J. and Richardson, D.J. (2010) Enhanced LASOX cutting with a Yb-fibre laser. The Laser User, (61), Winter Issue.

Record type: Article

Abstract

Laser cutting is the largest laser material processing technology deployed in modern industries, and the 10.6 µm wavelength CO2 laser is the most used laser source for this process. One advantage that lasers have over conventional thermal cutting processes, such as plasma and flame, is the instantaneous energy transfer, and narrow kerf, which can result in higher cutting speed and therefore lower processing cost. Normally, in the laser cutting process, a minimum focus beam diameter is located on or into the material surface; depending on the laser power density, this leads to melting and vaporisation of the material. A gas jet, coaxial with the laser beam, creates a narrow kerf-channel and flushes away the melted volume of material; but the process becomes less effective as the material thickness increases and conventional cutting using lasers in the 2 to 6 kW power range is restricted to a thickness of less than 25 mm in stainless steel. However, using an oxygen assist gas jet on carbon steel allows thicker material to be cut, since in addition to blowing away the debris the exothermic oxidation reaction can add 25% more energy to the cutting process.
Also see AILU newsletter, link below.

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More information

Published date: 2010
Organisations: Optoelectronics Research Centre

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 364483
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/364483
ISSN: 1755-5140
PURE UUID: 3a5d48c0-92cb-486c-95be-8ee8c576a16d
ORCID for J. Nilsson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0003-1691-7959
ORCID for D.J. Richardson: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-7751-1058

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 30 Apr 2014 10:51
Last modified: 09 Feb 2023 02:39

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Contributors

Author: A. Khan
Author: M. Sparkes
Author: W. O'Neill
Author: J.C. Flanagan
Author: A. Malinowski
Author: J. Nilsson ORCID iD
Author: D.J. Richardson ORCID iD

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