Product Code: ICAL06_407

Investigation of Laser Cutting Quality of Aluminium
Authors:
Aristeidis Stournaras, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation\Univeristy of Patras; Rion, Patras Greece
Panagiotis Stavropoulos, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, Univeristy of Patras; Rion, Patras Greece
George Chryssolouris, Laboratory for Manufacturing Systems & Automation, Univeristy of Patras; Rion, Patras Greece
Presented at ICALEO 2006

This paper presents an experimental investigation of laser cutting quality for advanced aluminium alloy 5083, used mainly for shipbuilding and transportation applications, with a pulsed 1,8 KW laser cutting system. The quality of the workpieces has been monitored by measuring the kerf width, the cutting edge roughness and the size of the heat affected zone (HAZ). This work aims at evaluating processing parameters, such as laser power and scanning speed, for the laser cutting of advanced aluminium alloys. Statistical analysis of the results has been performed in order for the effect of each parameter on the cutting quality to be determined.