Product Code: ICA11_104

Influence of Cut Front Temperature Profile on Cutting Process
Authors:
Volkher Onuseit, Institute fuer Strahlwerkzeuge, University of Stuttgart; Stuttgart Germany
Michael Jarwitz, Institute fuer Strahlwerkzeuge, University of Stuttgart; Stuttgart Germany
Rudolf Weber, Institute fuer Strahlwerkzeuge, University of Stuttgart; Stuttgart Germany
Thomas Graf, Institute fuer Strahlwerkzeuge, University of Stuttgart; Stuttgart Germany
Presented at ICALEO 2011

Laser cutting of metals is one of the most common applications in industrial manufacturing. Due to this, every improvement of process efficiency and the consequential increase of cutting velocity while maintaining the quality implies a high economic potential. A key factor influencing the maximum cutting speed is the distribution of the absorbed laser power which depends on the polarization state of the incident laser beam.
This work presents experimental results obtained with a radially polarized CO2 Laser with an output power of 3700W. These results are compared with results from cutting with a standard circularly polarized beam. The investigation is focused on the different behavior of the cutting process due to the different polarization states of the processing lasers. The emission spectra of the cutting front were measured with a spectrometer with high spatial resolution. The temperature was determined by fitting a Planck black-body radiation to the continuum emission. The temperature measurement has an accuracy of +-100K and a spatial resolution of 136 measurement points over 2mm cut front.
The temperature profile of the cutting front is shown to be different for the two polarizations. This changed temperature profile has an influence on the resulting surface of the cutting edge.