Relationship between plasma arc cutting acoustic and cut quality

The tremendous acoustic signal exiting during the plasma arc cutting process includes a lot of information about this process and has a close relation with cut quality. To investigate the relationship between the plasma arc cutting acoustic and cut quality, a number of experiments have been carried out. In the present study, cut quality by plasma arc is described by top and bottom kerf widths, bevel angle, and attached dross state, and the relationship between the evaluation items for cut quality and the SPL ( sound pressure level) of the cutting acoustic is investigated in detail. It is shown that the SPL reaches a maximum as the bottom kerf width equals the diameter of the plasma arc potential core. The attached dross and kerf widths in a state of free dross obviously affect the low and high frequency components of the plasma arc cutting acoustic, respectively. These results also suggest the possibility of designing an acoustic-based monitoring system for the plasma arc cutting process.