Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73

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Optics and Laser Technology

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Full length article

Laser cutting of various materials: Kerf width size analysis and life cycle
assessment of cutting process
Bekir Sami Yilbas ⇑, Mian Mobeen Shaukat, Farhan Ashraf
Mechanical Engineering Department, KFUPM, Box 1913, Dhahran 31261, Saudi Arabia

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Laser cutting of various materials including Ti-6Al-4V alloy, steel 304, Inconel 625, and alumina is carried
Received 18 December 2016 out to assess the kerf width size variation along the cut section. The life cycle assessment is carried out to
Received in revised form 21 January 2017 determine the environmental impact of the laser cutting in terms of the material waste during the cutting
Accepted 14 February 2017
process. The kerf width size is formulated and predicted using the lump parameter analysis and it is mea-
Available online 23 February 2017
sured from the experiments. The influence of laser output power and laser cutting speed on the kerf
width size variation is analyzed using the analytical tools including scanning electron and optical micro-
Keywords:
scopes. In the experiments, high pressure nitrogen assisting gas is used to prevent oxidation reactions in
Laser cutting
Kerf width size
the cutting section. It is found that the kerf width size predicted from the lump parameter analysis agrees
Life cycle assessment well with the experimental data. The kerf width size variation increases with increasing laser output
power. However, this behavior reverses with increasing laser cutting speed. The life cycle assessment
reveals that material selection for laser cutting is critical for the environmental protection point of view.
Inconel 625 contributes the most to the environmental damages; however, recycling of the waste of the
laser cutting reduces this contribution.
Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Laser cutting of sheet metals offers significant advantages over
the conventional cutting methods; some of these include precision
of operation, high speed processing, and low cost. Laser cutting
involves with high temperature processing of materials including
solid phase heating, melting, and evaporation. In the case of metal-
lic materials processing, assisting gas is used to reduce the oxida-
tion reactions in the cutting section. Since the oxidation reactions
gives rise to excessive heating in the cutting section via high tem-
perature exothermic reactions, the resulting section suffers from
cutting asperities such as sideways burning, dross attachments,
and thermal erosion [1]. The proper controlling of the laser cutting
process through appropriate selection of the cutting parameters
minimizes the defect sites along the cut sections. However, further
investigations are needed for net shaping of the materials, which
involve with high thermal conductivities and low fracture tough-
ness such as titanium alloys and alumina. On the other hand, a care
must be taken during the cutting process from the perspective of
the energy consumption. This is because of the fact that a laser
as a machine tool uses the electrical energy to generate irradiated
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: bsyilbas@kfupm.edu.sa (B.S. Yilbas).
power in the cutting section. Since the efficiency of the lasing
devices is low, which in the order of 30% [2], the electrical energy
consumption increases the cost of machining and contributes to
the environmental degradation. This is due to the electrical energy
generation from turbines, particularly gas and steam turbines,
which have adverse effect on the environment. Consequently,
investigation of the laser cutting process from the environmental
perspective via life cycle assessment becomes essential.
Laser cutting process and the assessment of cutting parameters
on kerf size and geometry are important aspects of the quality
evaluation of the end product. Optimization studies on laser cut-
ting offers improved process control and securing of the end pro-
duct quality. Modelling and optimization study for the
assessment of the cut quality of a thin aluminum-alloy was carried
out by Sharma and Yadava [3]. They introduced the entropy mea-
surement methodology for the calculation of weight corresponding
to each quality characteristic. They indicated that the hybrid
approaches for modelling and optimization of the laser cutting
process provided reasonably good accuracy. Optimization of multi-
ple quality characteristics in laser cutting of titanium alloy sheet
was examined by Pandey and Dubey [4]. They identified important
control factors related to the quality characteristics for kerf taper-
ing and surface roughness. Jet impingement onto a laser produced
kerf and the effect of kerf wedge angle on heat transfer rates and

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.optlastec.2017.02.014
0030-3992/Ó 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
68 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73
skin friction were investigated by Melhem et al. [5]. They demon-
strated that the kerf wall wedge angle had considerable influence
on the Nusselt number and the skin friction. Laser cutting of the
triangular geometries in aluminum foam and the influence of cut
size on thermal stress levels were studied by Yilbas et al. [6]. The
findings revealed that small size triangle cuts resulted in relatively
higher temperatures around the cut edges as compared to large
size triangle cuts; however, opposite was true for von Mises stress
levels. This was attributed to the slow cooling rates in the case of
the small size triangle cuts. On the other hand, considerable
research studies were carried out to examine the laser machining
process and environmental impact. Energy related life cycle impact
and cost reduction opportunity in laser cutting process was studied
by Devoldere et al. [7]. They showed that the CO2 laser source and
the chiller unit were the largest energy consumers during the pro-
cessing time. In addition, during non-productive time, 12% of the
yearly energy consumption was required to keep the chiller and
other components active. Environmental assessment of laser
assisted manufacturing incorporating the laser shock peening
and laser assisted turning was carried out by Zhao et al. [8]. They
indicated that the environmental performance of the two laser
based processes was significantly better than those of the conven-
tional processes. For the laser shock peening of aluminum, the
analysis indicated that this was mainly due to the significant
extension of fatigue life of the workpiece being treated. For the
laser assisted turning of compacted graphite iron, the improved
performance was mainly due to the extended tool life since cutting
tool manufacturing was an energy intensive process. In addition,
development of high-power laser with a lower wavelength (e.g.
direct diode system) could eliminate the use of paint in laser
assisted turning. Energy efficiency assessment of laser drilling pro-
cess was investigated by Apostolos et al. [9]. They presented the
laser processing efficiency incorporating two different analyses,
which include: (i) considering the entire laser system, and (ii)
including only the workpiece – laser beam interactions. Optimiza-
tion of cutting parameters for minimizing power consumption and
maximizing tool life during machining of composites was studied
by Bhushan [10]. He showed that multi response optimization
through desirability analysis route reduced power consumption
by13.55% and increased tool life by 22.12%. The optimization study
for the laser cutting process, incorporating the laser parameters
with multi-performance characteristics, was carried out by Caydas
and Hascalik [11]. They demonstrated that grey relational grade
analysis provided useful information on the laser cutting process;
in which case, the laser power had more effect on the cutting qual-
ity than that of the cutting speed. Laser-assisted machining of
Inconel 718 and the economic analysis was studied by Anderson
et al. [12]. They presented the machinability of Inconel 718 under
various conditions. They demonstrated that with increasing mate-
rial removal temperature from room temperature to 620 °C, the
benefit of laser assisted machining was demonstrated by a 25%
decrease in the specific cutting energy. In this case, 2–3-fold
improvement in surface roughness and a 200–300% increase in
ceramic tool life over conventional machining were reported. The
energy and environmental impact analysis of remanufacturing of
turbine blades via laser direct deposition was carried out by Wilson
et al. [13]. They demonstrated the effectiveness of laser direct
deposition in remanufacturing and its potential to adapt to a wide
range of part defects. A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) on the energy
and environmental impacts by remanufacturing was also pre-
sented. Energy and resource efficiency of laser cutting processes
was examined by Kellens et al. [14]. They provided an overview
of the environmental performance in terms of energy. In addition,
they derived the resource efficiencies of different types of laser cut-
ting systems and demonstrated the performance improving strate-
gies. Environmental aspects of laser-based and conventional tool
for die manufacturing were investigated by Morrow et al. [15].
They indicated that laser-based remanufacturing of tooling could
reduce the processing cost and environmental impact simultane-
ously, especially as the scale of the tool increased.
Laser machining process and life cycle assessment was pre-
sented earlier [13], the main focus was to use laser deposition tech-
nique to produce parts and the life cycle assessment for the laser
cutting of different materials was left for the future study. In the
present study, laser gas assisted cutting of titanium alloy, steel, alu-
mina, and Inconel alloy was carried out. The effect of laser output
power and cutting speed on the resulting cut geometries, in terms
of the kerf width size variation, is studied. The life cycle assessment
of the laser gas assisted cutting process was carried out to examine
the environmental impact of the laser cutting process.
2. Experimental
A CO2 laser (LC-ALPHAIII) delivering nominal output power of
2000 kW was used to irradiate the workpiece surface. The laser
output intensity was in the form of high frequency repetitive
pulses having the frequency of 1500 pulses per second. The wave-
length of the laser is 10.6 µm and laser output intensity is Gaussian
with TEM00 mode. The nominal focal length of the focusing lens
was 127 mm and the laser beam diameter focused at the work-
piece surface was 0.25 mm. Nitrogen assisting gas at high pressure
was introduced coaxially with the laser beam through a nozzle. A
computer controlled x, y table was used to mount the workpieces
of 2 mm thickness. The laser power intensity was varied in
between 500 and 1500 W while the x, y table speed was changed
within 5–10 cm/s in the experiment. Nitrogen gas pressure was
kept at 550 kPa during the experiments. Table 1 gives the laser cut-
ting parameters used in the experiments.
After completion of the cutting process, the widths of resulting
cuts were measured and SEM microphotography of the cut sur-
faces was carried out. To measure the striation depths and widths,
the surface roughness measurement was carried out using a
Bendix stylus instrument; in which case, the difference of kerf
width size (Dwk) was obtained. The difference of kerf width size
was determined from:
Dwk
P=S ¼ ðwkn ÞP=S
ðwknþ1 ÞP=S
wk is the kerf width size, and indices of P and S represents the kerf
widths due to laser output power variation and the laser cutting
speed, respectively. The kerf width size ratio is determined from
the following equation:
ðwkn ÞP=S
ðwknþ1 ÞP=S
%Dwk
P=S ¼
ðwkav erage Þ
where wkav erage is the average of the kerf width size along the cutting
edge.
3. Kerf width analysis
Introducing the lumped parameter technique, the overall
energy balance for the laser cutting process could be simplified
[16]. This relation can be written as [16]:
pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
P v wk þ A3 v wk
¼ ð2Þ
d Ao
where
A 1 ðwk þ 2wkðTm To ÞÞ
Ao ¼ ; A3 ¼ pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi and
ao ao 2 awwk
aa ¼ q½CpðTm
To Þ þ Lm þ bLb 
 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73 69

Table 1
Laser cutting conditions used in the experiment.

Scanning Speed (m/s) Power (W) Frequency (Hz) Nozzle gap (mm) Nozzle diameter (mm) Focus setting (mm) N2 pressure (kPa)
0.05–0.1 300–1500 1500 1.5 1.5 127 550

The term ‘‘Ao” is related to energy transfer rate to the workpiece Table 3
at the surface during laser-workpiece interaction. ‘‘A” is the effec- LCA inventory data for Laser Cutting Process.

tive energy coupling factor at the workpiece surface, and ‘‘A3” is Materials Gas consumption Energy consumption Amount of waste
related to energy loss due to conduction in the solid. b is the frac- (kg) (J) (kg)
tion of evaporation contribution at the workpiece surface. Ti-6Al-4V 1.0833 5.10E+03 1.42E
02
Using the scale law, the kerf width can be written in a simplified Steel 0.7222 2.33E+03 3.14E+01
form as [16]: Al2O3 1.0833 1.30E+04 1.59E+01
Inconel 0.7222 3.65E+03 3.38E+01
h pffiffiffi pffiffiffiffii
gu
P v
625
1 2:51 wa kðT2A
m
T o Þ
wk ¼   ð3Þ
v 1 þ 3:08  108 Ap
o ffi
qqg r2 a
pffiffiffi P
pffiffiffiffi
v
A3 f M w Pg f w

where ‘‘f” is the fraction of the pressure drop in the kerf, r is the
molecular diameter (Angstrom unit), Mw is the molecular weight
(g/mol unit) of the assisting gas, Pg and qg are the pressure and den-
sity of the assisting gas, and gu is the superheating factor in the melt
pool.
Eq. (3) is used to determine the kerf width while energy cou-
pling factor (A), laser power (P), and cutting speed (v) are consid-
ered as variables in Eq. (3). The material properties used in the
computations are given in Table 2.
4. Life cycle assessment (LCA)
Sustainable manufacturing has gained significant importance in
industry. There is urgent need to reduce the environmental impact
in all stages of product design and manufacturing. Life Cycle
Assessment (LCA) is a widely used technique to evaluate environ-
mental impact of manufacturing processes. LCA is an ISO-
standardized method used to evaluate environmental impact from
a cradle-to-grave perspective [17,18]. Several researchers have
used this technique to measure environmental impacts of manu-
facturing processes and to compare novel manufacturing tech-
niques with conventional manufacturing techniques [18,19].
ISO standard lists four steps for performing LCA: goal and scope
definition, life cycle inventory analysis, life cycle impact assess-
ment, and interpretation. The first step of analysis is to define goal
of study which includes the purpose and intended application of
study. The goal for current study is to investigate and compare
environmental impacts of laser cutting of four different materials.
In order to compare various processes in LCA a functional unit
(quantification of useful service provide by the process) must be
defined. The data was collected for cutting 1 m long and 4 mm
thick plate, hence laser cutting of 1 m long and 4 mm thick plate
is considered as a functional unit for this study.
In second phase of LCA, Life Cycle Inventory Analysis, data of
laser cutting of four materials Ti-6Al-4V, Steel 304, Al2O3 and
Table 2
Assisting gas properties and data used in the simulations.
Source of variation
Density of assisting gas
Fraction of evaporation contribution (b)
Fraction of pressure drop (f)
Energy coupling factor (A)
Super heating factor in the melt front (gu)
Molecular diameter of nitrogen
Superheating factor
Inconel 625 were gathered. The data was collected for energy con-
sumption, shielding gas consumption, and waste produced during
laser cutting. The data is summarized in Table 3.
After data collection, SimaPro is used as the software to build
the LCA model and calculate environmental impact. There are
various methods that can be used for impact assessment. For this
study, CML was used. This assessment tool is named after the
research institute (Center of Environmental Science of Leiden
University) and was developed by a group of scientists under the
lead of center of environmental science of Leiden University. The
CML method is based on the problem oriented approach and it
calculates various categories of environmental impact including
Global warming potential, Eutrophication potential, Human toxic-
ity potential, Ozone layer depletion potential, Acidification poten-
tial, and Abiotic depletion factor, etc. [20].
5. Results and discussion
Laser gas assisted cutting of titanium alloy (Ti-6Al-4V), steel
304, alumina, and Inconel 625 superalloy was carried out. The
effect of laser output power and cutting speed on the percentage
of kerf width size variation is analyzed. The life cycle assessment
of the laser cutting process is also presented.
Figs. 1 and 2 show SEM micrographs of laser cut kerf surfaces of
the workpieces for two laser output power settings and two cut-
ting speeds. The kerf surfaces appear to be almost similar for
metallic materials; in which case, some striations with flow of liq-
uid metal are observed. The rapid solidification of the liquid metal
at the surface, due to the convection cooling effect of the high pres-
sure assisting gas, gives rise to the formation of the cast layer at the
kerf surface. This situation is observed for the low cutting speeds
(Fig. 1a–d) or high laser power intensities (Fig. 2a–d). Because of
the high temperature gradients formed in the cast layer, thermal
strain remains high in this region. This, in turn, gives rise to forma-
tion of micro-cracks at the kerf surface, which are seen on the kerf
surfaces. In the case of high power or low speed cutting process,
the cracks are partially extended on the kerf surface unlike the
low power and high speed cutting process. This behavior is attrib-
uted to the thickness of the melt (cast) layer, which increases with
the laser output power or the low cutting speeds. Therefore, the
cooling rates at the surface region of the cast layer are modified
Value Units
by the bulk of heated layer below the surface. Consequently, heat
1.25 kg/m3 conduction from the cast layer towards to surface region modifies
0.1 –
0.1 –
the cooling rates and the temperature gradient in the surface vicin-
0.5 – ity of the cast layer reduces. Hence, formation of the crack network
0.02 – is suppressed with the relatively lower cooling rates as compared
3.64 Å to those corresponding to the cutting conditions with high cutting
0.02 –
speeds or low laser output power. It should be noted that in high
70 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73

Fig. 1. SEM micrographs of laser cut kerf surfaces: (a) stainless steel, (b) Inconel 625, (c) Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and (d) alumina. The laser power is 1500 W and the cutting speed is
0.07 m/s.

Fig. 2. SEM micrographs of laser cut kerf surfaces: (a) stainless steel, (b) Inconel 625, (c) Ti-6Al-4V alloy, and (d) alumina. The laser cutting speed is 0.05 m/s and laser power
is 800 W.

speed or low power cutting, the cast layer formed at the kerf sur-
face remains thin while resulting in attainment of high tempera-
ture gradients. This situation results in the crack network
formation on the kerf surface. Moreover, in the case of titanium
alloy, the striation depth remains large at the kerf surface. This is
associated with the high oxidation potential of titanium, which
results in sideways burning and deep molten layer formation at
the kerf surface. It should be noted that high temperature exother-
mic reactions results in excessive energy generation contributing
to the laser beam energy in the cutting section [21]. This causes
deep striation patterns at the surface [22]. In the case of alumina
cutting, the kerf surface demonstrates the striation patterns; how-
 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73 71

Fig. 3. Percentage of kerf width size variation with the laser output power for various materials. The laser cutting speed is kept constant at 0.07 m/s in the experiment and in
the predictions.

Fig. 4. Percentage of kerf width size variation with the laser cutting speed for various materials. The laser output power is kept constant at 1000 W in the experiment and in
the predictions.

ever, the depth of the striation patterns appears to be shallow as
compared to those corresponding to the titanium alloy. In addition,
few surface cracks are observed in the cast layer, which is related
to the formation of high thermal strain under the high temperature
gradients in this region.
Figs. 3 and 4 show the variation of the percentage of kerf width
size in terms of the kerf width difference with laser output power
(Dwk-P) and with laser cutting speed (Dwk-S) for different materials.
It should be noted that the cutting speed is kept constant at 0.1 m/s
in Fig. 3. Increasing laser output power increases the percentage of
percentage kerf width size. In addition, the kerf width difference
(Dwk-P) increases with increasing laser output power, which is more
pronounced for the titanium alloy. This is because of the high tem-
perature exothermic reactions, which provide excess energy in the
cutting section. Since the assisting gas used is nitrogen, the presence
of the oxygen remains low in the cutting section. However, high oxy-
gen affinity of titanium alloy gives rise to the oxidation reactions
taking place locally in the cutting section. Therefore, localized ther-
mal erosion is resulted at the kerf surface while causing the deep
striation formations. In addition, this gives rise to the formation of
varying kerf width size along the cut edges. Consequently, kerf
width size variation (Dwk-P) increases with increasing output beam
power. In the case of other metallic materials, increasing laser out-
put power causes increase of the kerf width size variation (Dwk-P).
This situation is due to the increased in the kerf width size with
increasing laser output power. Therefore, the kerf width size insta-
bility occurs while giving rise to attainment of large Dwk-P. In the
case of the laser cutting speed (Fig. 5), the percentage of kerf width
size variation (Dwk-S) demonstrates the opposite behavior to that
for the laser output power (Fig. 4). In this case, increasing laser cut-
ting speed lowers the kerf width while reducing the percentage of
kerf width size variation along the cut edges. However, the percent-
age of kerf width size variation (Dwk-S) reduces significantly at high
cutting speeds as compared to those other materials considered.
This is, again, associated with the formation of large molten layer
due to the excessive energy provided via ectothermic reactions in
the cut section, i.e. kerf size variation becomes large for the low cut-
ting speeds because of the high residence time of the laser beam in
the cutting section. In the case of alumina, the percentage of kerf
width size variation (Dwk-P and Dwk-S) remains low, which is due
to smaller variation in the percentage of kerf width size as compared
to those of the metallic materials.
72 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73

Fig. 5. Impact assessment results for laser cutting process of different materials.

On the other hand, in life cycle assessment, six impact cate-
gories are considered. These include Global Warming Potential
(GWP), Abiotic Depletion Factor (ADF), Ozone Depletion Poten-
tial (ODP), Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP), Acid-
ification Potential (AP), and Eutrophication Potential (EP). In this
case, GWP is related to emission of greenhouse gases and it is
defined for time horizon of 100 years in kg CO2 per kg emission.
ADF is related to extraction of materials and is measured in kg
antimony equivalents per kg extraction. ODP is a measure of
stratospheric ozone depletion. Its unit is kg CFC-11 equivalents
per kg emission. POCP is concerned with the formation of reac-
tive substances (mainly ozone) in the atmosphere which are
injurious to human health. POCP is expressed as kg ethylene
equivalents per kg emission. AP described the rate of deposition
of acidifying substance. AP is expressed as kg SO2 equivalents
per kg emission. EP includes all impact due to macro nutrients
in the environment caused by the emission of nutrients to air,
water and soil. It is expressed as kg PO4 equivalents per kg
emission. The results of study from life cycle impact assessment
are interpreted next.
The environmental impacts GWP, ADF, ODP, POCP, AP and EP
contributed from laser cutting of four different materials as shown
in Fig. 5. The results show that laser cutting of Inconel 625 is more
damaging to environment as compared to laser cutting of other
three materials. Also Ti-6Al-V has the least impact on environment
during laser cutting. To estimate impacts due to different inputs of
 B.S. Yilbas et al. / Optics and Laser Technology 93 (2017) 67–73
laser cutting process, environmental burdens due to energy, gas,
and waste materials were also calculated. First thing to note from
Fig. 5 is that energy accounts for nearly negligible share of the
environmental impact for all the materials. Next the contribution
of shielding gas is more than energy consumption however it is
far less than the damage caused by the waste material generated
in laser cutting. For example during laser cutting of Inconel 625
only 2.5 g of CO2 is contributed by energy, 0.69 kg by shielding
gas, and 235 kg by the waste material. Consequently, waste mate-
rial in laser cutting process takes the main share of environmental
burden. Within the scope of this study Inconel 625 proved to be
most damaging to the environment. Therefore material choice for
laser cutting is crucial to environmental impact and should be con-
sidered carefully while adopting novel manufacturing techniques.
Also the impact from waste materials can be mitigated by recycling
the waste materials.
6. Conclusion
Laser cutting of various materials including Ti-6Al-4V alloy,
steel 304, Inconel 625, and alumina is carried out. The percentage
of kerf width size variations due to laser output power and the cut-
ting speed are examined. The kerf width size is predicted from the
lump parameter analysis and measured from the experiments. The
kerf width variation due to laser output power (Dwk-P) and laser
cutting speed (Dwk-S) are determined for all materials incorporated
in the present study. The study is extended to include the life cycle
assessment of the laser cutting process. Nitrogen assisting gas at
high pressure is used in the experiments to avoid excessive oxida-
tion reactions in the laser cutting section. It is found that increasing
laser output power or reducing laser cutting speed results in
increased percentage of kerf width size. In addition, the kerf width
size variations ((Dwk-P) and (Dwk-S)) also increase. This is associ-
ated with the long period of laser beam residency in the cutting
section for the low cutting speeds. The kerf size variation increases
significantly for the titanium alloy. This behavior is attributed to
the high temperature exothermic reactions, which take place in
the cutting section because of high oxygen affinity of titanium
alloys. In the case of other metallic materials, percentage of kerf
width size variation remains low. Similarly, this argument is true
for the cut sections of alumina. Some micro-cracks are observed
at the kerf surface, particularly for high cutting speeds or low laser
output powers. The resulting cast layer thickness reduces for high
cutting speeds or low laser output power while increasing the tem-
perature gradients and thermal strain at the surface region of the
cast layer. However, the delamination of the cast layer surface is
not observed for all the cutting conditions considered. Alumina
also shows similar behavior with those of the metallic materials
in terms of surface cracks. The life cycle assessment demonstrates
that the waste material in the laser cutting process becomes criti-
cal in terms of the environmental damages and hazardous. In this
case, laser cutting of Inconel 625 is the most contributing to the
environmental damage. This demonstrates that the material choice
for laser cutting process is important in terms of the environmental
impact. This issue should be considered carefully while adopting
the novel manufacturing techniques. However, the impact from
laser waste materials, such as ejected dross from the kerf sites,
can be mitigated by recycling the waste materials.
73
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the support of King Fahd University
of Petroleum and Minerals Dhahran Saudi Arabia.
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