Product Code: ICAL05_P537

An Exploratory Study on the Capabilities of Lasers to Cut Granite Plates
Authors:
Mohamed Boutinguiza, Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Pontevedra Spain
Ramoto, Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Pontevedra Spain
Antonio Riveiro, University of Vigo; Vigo Spain
Fx Quintero, Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Pontevedra Spain
Fernando Lusqui Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Pontevedra Spain
Juan Pou, Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Spain
Mariano Pz-Amor, Universidad de Vigo; Vigo Pontevedra Spain
Presented at ICALEO 2005

Granite stones are considered to be one of the best materials for beauty, durability and easy of maintenance in all types of constructions. Granites are generally harder rocks than marbles or limestones and therefore are more difficult to machine. Nowadays the granite plates are cut by the use of diamond coated tools. This is a very arduous work, being noisy, powdery and certainly unsafe for the worker.
In this paper we present the results of an exploratory work directed to study the capabilities of the lasers to cut granite plates. A systematic study on the influence of the involved processing parameters, such as the cutting speed, type of assist gas, gas pressure, mode of operation, pulse frequency, and pulse duration, on the quality of the cuts will be presented.