Study on cutting of thin aluminum alloy plates by CO2 laser

Recently, many kinds of aluminum alloys have come to be used in the mechanical industry, but these materials are difficult to cut. Therefore, it is one of the most important subjects in machine shop to find out an effectual cutting method of these aluminum alloys. CO2 laser cutting is one of the hopeful methods which meets such requirements. However, there have been few studies hitherto which have dealt with the CO2 laser cutting of aluminum alloys. Under such a situation, CO2 laser cutting of the thin aluminum alloy plates (A1050, A2017, A5052, A7075) was chosen as a subject of this study, that is, the influence of cutting conditions (laser power, assist gas pressure, focusing, cutting speed) upon cut quality (height of dross, flatness, surface roughness) was examined. The following conclusions were obtained: (1) The effect of cutting speed on cut quality could be clarified. (2) The height of dross of each material was found to be influenced by surface tension and degree of superheat.