FINE PLASMA CUTTING OF ADVANCED AEROSPACE MATERIALS

There is little published technical material available on the above process. An attempt has been made to correct this shortfall by using the fine plasma process to cut aluminium sheet material in both a monolithic and a Metal Matrix Composite form. The resulting cuts have been examined and their macroscopic and microscopic cut quality assessed. it has been concluded that there is a range of cutting speed over which the quality criteria are optimised. Kerf widths are of the order of 1mm and are associated with relatively small heat affected zones. Some interesting features of the cut surfaces have been noted and some conclusions have been made as to the capability of this process to cut these materials to a high standard.