Product Code: PIC2008_103

The Studies of Laser Oxygen Thick Section Cutting using Disk Laser
Authors:
Tao Zhang, Centre for Industrial Photonics; Cambridge Great Britain
Martin Sparkes, Centre for Industrial Photonics; Cambridge Great Britain
Markus Gross, Centre for Industrial Photonics; Cambridge Great Britain
William O\'Neill, Centre for Industrial Photonics; Cambridge Great Britain
Presented at PICALO 2008

Laser Oxygen Thick Section Cutting (LOTSC), a cutting process which utilises the full performance of a supersonic oxygen gas jet for cutting (typically) 30-60 mm mild steel plate, has previously been examined primarily using the CO2 laser. This paper looks at some of the considerations that need to be addressed to transfer the process to the 1.03 µm Disk laser source. Feedrate and standoff comparisons are made between the two systems; the CO2 results shown in this case to be both faster and have a larger stable operating window. An explanation for this is proposed resulting from aberration within the 1.03 µm optical train, placing more energy into the base of the cut.
Kerf parallelism for the previous reported work has not been acceptable for all processes. In order to address this, the supersonic nozzle has been used at various pressures to try and reduce the flaring effect. Experimentation and Computational Fluid Dynamic modelling have shown that the kerf taper can be reduced.