Dynamic Phenomena And Quality Defects In Laser Cutting

Laser cutting of sheet metals is used all over the world by production companies since it combines high speed, excellent quality and economic advantages. Nevertheless certain limits exist for materials thickness and speed and also to quality of the cut edges that show eventually strong roughness and adherent material as dross and slag. In order to extend these limits and to approve especially cutting speed and quality of the cut edges the mechanism of laser cutting must be fully understood. As far as it concerns steady state cutting the phenomena contributed to the process with a thin liquid layer covering the momentary end of the cut kerf that serves for absorption of laser radiation and also for generation of reaction heat also for melting of the solid material and finally for the ejection of liquid material at the bottom of the work piece due to the friction with the process gas have been clarified a long time before. Also dynamic phenomena associated to reaction and to waves on the surface of the liquid body that all lead to a certain roughness have been described in the past. Nevertheless the phenomena taking place inside the liquid layer are not fully understood especially the influence of surface tension that is much higher than the pressure in the melt and would in principal inhibit any ejection of melt that is necessary for cutting. Therefore the authors carried out an analysis of the processes taking place in the liquid body that leads to a picture with a discontinuous ejection of melt and explains the formation of a rough surface structure and also of adherent material for the case of a rather thick workpiece (> 10mm).