Recent developments in laser cutting of metallic materials
- Authors: Anghel, Cristina , Gupta, Kapil , Mashamba, Able , Tien-Chen, Jen
- Date: 2018
- Subjects: Heat affected zone , Kerf width , Laser cutting
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/288767 , uj:31314 , Citation: Anghel, C. et al. 2018. Recent developments in laser cutting of metallic materials.
- Description: Abstract: Laser cutting has become an extensively used method of material removal with cost effective solutions for complex manufacturing processes. Consequently, the process has become an area of intense research and development activity where researchers and industry experts are focusing on maximizing the productivity and reducing the cost while maintaining a high quality. Laser cutting, as the prevalent application of laser beam machining (LBM), offers a competitive advantage over conventional cutting processes in terms of material savings due to narrow kerf width, less heat affected zone and minimum distortions. The process offers high precision and good surface quality, with no tool wear and easy automation. The current paper aims to present an overview on the recent research on laser cutting of metallic materials, in terms of process monitoring and control as well as modeling and optimization, and to summarize the past five years of research on the topic.
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Effect of laser beam cutting parameters on productivity and dimensional accuracy of miniature spur gears of stainless steel
- Authors: Anghel, Cristina , Gupta, Kapil , Jen, T. C.
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: Conference proceedings
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/460212 , uj:40945 , Citation: Cristina Anghel et al 2020 IOP Conf. Ser.: Mater. Sci. Eng. 971 022081
- Description: Abstract: Product quality and process productivity are one of the major indicators to evaluate the performance of any manufacturing process. The quality of any product covers its appearance, geometric and dimensional accuracy, and surface finish and integrity that majorly include microstructure, micro-hardness type of parameters. Whereas, the productivity can be determined using material removal rate. Laser beam cutting is an important advanced machining process and has been scarcely explored for miniature gears. This paper reports, the effect of laser beam cutting parameters on one of the quality parameters i.e. dimensional deviation of miniature spur gears of stainless steel and material removal rate. Box Behnken design of experiments methodology has been adopted to conduct a total of twenty nine experiments where four important laser parameters i.e. power, cutting speed, focal position, and gas pressure have been varied at three levels each. The manufactured external spur gear of stainless steel consists of ten teeth, 0.750 module, 9.04 mm outside diameter, and 4.5 mm face width or thickness. The investigation found that cutting speed significantly affected material removal rate and laser power affected dimensional deviation. Individual effects of laser parameters on both material removal rate and dimensional deviation are discussed in detail in the chapter. The investigation identifies laser beam cutting as a viable substitute of conventional manufacturing processes for fabrication of quality miniature gears with high productivity.
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Analysis and optimization of surface quality of stainless steel miniature gears manufactured by CO2 laser cutting
- Authors: Anghel, Cristina , Gupta, Kapil , Jen, T.C.
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: Gear , Laser , Machining
- Language: English
- Type: Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10210/411159 , uj:34540 , Citation: Anghel, C., Gupta, K. & Jen. T.C. 2020. Analysis and optimization of surface quality of stainless steel miniature gears manufactured by CO2 laser cutting.
- Description: Abstract: This paper reports the results of investigation conducted on CO2 laser cutting of miniature gears of stainless steel 304. In this work, analysis of the effects of important laser parameters such as power, cutting speed, focal position, and gas pressure on average surface roughness (Ra) has been investigated. Stainless steel spur gears having 9.04 mm outside diameter and 4.5 mm face width have been cut using a CO2 laser system with nitrogen as assisted gas. A total of twenty nine experiments have been conducted based on BBD (Box-Behnken Design) technique of response surface methodology where aforementioned laser parameters varied at three levels each. ANOVA study found focal position as the most significant parameter. Further, the Desirability based optimization of laser parameters obtained best values of Ra- 0.43 µm at laser power- 2407 W, cutting speed- 1.25 m/min, focal position- (-) 2.4 mm, gas pressure- 12.5 bar. A scanned electron microscopy study also revealed the good surface morphology of the miniature gear machined at optimum parameters.
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