Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical

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Effect of process parameters on the kerf width during the laser cutting process
B S Yilbas
Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part B: Journal of Engineering Manufacture 2001 215:
1357
DOI: 10.1243/0954405011519132

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 1357

EVect of process parameters on the kerf width during

the laser cutting process

B S Yilbas
Mechanical Engineering Department, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, PO Box 1913, Dhahran 31261,
Saudi Arabia

Abstract: One of the de®ciencies in laser cutting quality is the large size of striation formed at the cut
edges. Striation formation is related to the slow drifts and disturbances in various parameters during
the laser cutting process. In the present study, the eVects of laser power, cutting speed and energy
coupling factor on the kerf size are investigated. A simpli®ed formulation based on the lumped
parameter approach is considered for the kerf width analysis. An experiment is carried out to verify
the present predictions. In addition, a kerf width formulation developed in a previous study is used
to compare the predictions of the present analysis and the previous results. It is found that
increasing laser power and energy coupling factor increase the kerf width size. Slight variations in
laser power, cutting speed and energy coupling factor modify the kerf width size considerably, in
which case the striation size increases or the striation initiates during the cutting process.

Keywords: laser cutting, kerf width parameters

NOTATION automated manufacturing owing to the high processing

speed, low waste, precision of operation and high quality
A energy coupling factor, <1 of end product. In the laser cutting process, an assisting
Cp speci®c heat capacity (J/kg K) gas is used (a) to shield the surface from the oxidation
f fraction of pressure drop in the kerf, <1 reactions (such as burning) and (b) to generate the
k thermal conductivity (W/m K) exothermic reaction enhancing the cutting process. The
Mw molecular weight (g/molecular unit) former ®nds application in the cutting of non-metallic
P laser output power (W) materials such as plastic and wood and the latter is
Pg assisting gas pressure (Pa) employed in mainly sheet metal forming. In laser sheet
Tm melting temperature (K) metal cutting, a laser beam is concentrated on a work-
T0 initial temperature (K) piece and a jet of gas capable of taking part in an
v cutting speed (m/s) exothermic reaction is introduced coaxially with the
w beam waist diameter at the workpiece surface (m) laser beam. The gas jet thereby initiates the high tem-
wk kerf width (m) perature exothermic reaction, increasing the energy
input to the workpiece material, and the movement of
¬ thermal diVusivity (m2 /s) the gas jet sweeps away the products of combustion.
­ fraction of evaporation contribution of surface, <1 Many research studies have been carried out to examine
²u superheating factor in the melt front, <1 the laser gas assisted cutting process. A quantitative
» density of workpiece (kg/m 3 ) analysis of CO2 laser power required to cut thin stainless
»g density of assisting gas (kg/m 3 ) steel sheets at varying speeds was carried out by
¼ molecular diameter of assisting gas (AÊ) Gonsalves and Duley [1]. They indicated that a point
source heating model could be used in predicting the
various parameters involved in the cutting process. The
1 INTRODUCTION combined eVects of chemical reactions taking place
between a gas jet and a molten metal, the cooling eVect
Laser cutting has gained increasing interest in the metal of the jet and the evaporation of metal on the resulting
forming industry and is well suited for high volume cut properties during the CO2 laser cutting process were
The MS was received on 5 July 2000 and was accepted after revision for examined by Yilbas and Sahin [2]. They introduced a
publication on 4 January 2001. laminar boundary layer approximation when modelling
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1358 B S YILBAS

the gas jet momentum eVect on the molten metal during sharp corner or odd-curvature cutting, variation in
the cutting process. To verify the predictions, they laser power intensity and optical integrity perturbations.
monitored keyhole formation experimentally during the Striation formation at the cut edges can be considered as
cutting process. They indicated that the theoretical one of the de®ciencies in laser cutting quality. In the light
model was valid for a cutting speed of 3 cm/s for all assist- of the above arguments, the present study is carried out
ing gas jet velocities up to the sonic velocity. In addition, a to investigate the eVect of ¯uctuations of laser and work-
theoretical model governing the laser gas assisted cutting piece parameters on the size of striation formation. These
process including the chemical reactions and accounting parameters include the laser power, energy coupling
for the turbulence eVect of the impinging gas jet was intro- factor and cutting speed. A mathematical model based
duced by Yilbas and Sahin [3]. An experiment was carried on a scaling law introduced previously [11] is employed
out to validate the theoretical predictions. They demon- to formulate the size of the kerf width. The predictions
strated that the heat transfer to liquid metal decreased of the model are compared with the experimental results.
with increasing material thickness and that the increase In addition, some of the cutting de®ciencies due to high
in power intensity over the cut surface initially gave rise temperature oxidation reactions are discussed.
to a substantial increment in the penetration speed. The
eVects of high pressure gas ¯ow in laser gas assisted cut-
ting were investigated by Chen [4]. The experimental 2 MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS
results showed that the use of oxygen as assisting gas
resulted in better quality of cutting than when nitrogen The overall energy balance in the laser cutting process
and argon were used during the cutting of 3 mm stainless was simpli®ed by introducing the lumped parameter
steel workpiece. Laser cutting of metallic coated sheet technique of Kar et al. [11]. The simple scaling law
steels was investigated experimentally by Prasad et al. states that a relationship exists among the laser energy
[5]. They used a 500 W continuous wave CO2 laser to per- absorbed per unit depth, convection and conduction
form the experiments with the integration of a computer contributions of heat transfer and phase change. This
numerically controlled (CNC) centre. They showed that yields the relation [11]
the cutting speed was a function of laser output power. p



P vwk ‡ A3 vwk
Aloke et al. [6] investigated the stress levels generated ˆ …1†
» A0
around the laser-cut hole. They veri®ed the predictions
with experimental results and indicated that the predic- where
tions could be correlated with experimental data, A
especially for smaller diameter holes. The eVects of gas A0 ˆ
a0
composition on the CO2 laser cutting of mild steel were
examined by Chen [7]. A gas mixture of oxygen, argon, 1 wk ‡ 2wk…Tm T0 †
nitrogen and helium was used in the experiment. They A3 ˆ p 






a0 2 ¬wwk
showed that the cut quality degraded when low pressure
inert gas was introduced in the cutting section. Schuocker aa ˆ »‰Cp …Tm ¡ T0 † ‡ Lm ‡ ­ Lb Š
and Muller [8] investigated the striation frequency by
measuring the striation depth. They compared the The term A0 is related to the energy transfer rate to the
striation size with the predictions of the model developed. workpiece at the surface during laser±workpiece inter-
They demonstrated that the predictions agreed well with action, A is the eVective energy coupling factor at the
the experimental ®ndings. A study on striation initiation workpiece surface, A3 is related to the energy loss due
and formation was carried out by Olsen [9]. Some expla- to conduction in the solid and ­ is the fraction of
nation of striation frequency was given in the study. evaporation contribution at the workpiece surface.
Yilbas [10] investigated the CO2 laser cutting process Using the scale law, the kerf width can be written in a
and modelled the movement of the heat source at the simpli®ed form for a circular laser beam with a beam
surface for possible striation formation. His predictions waist size of w as [11]
agreed well with the experimental ®ndings. r
¬ 2A²u p 
In the laser cutting process, the process parameters can 2:51 P v
be adjusted and tuned to achieve the quality of cut 1 w k…Tm ¡ T0 †
wk ˆ …2†
desired. However, if a diVerent workpiece material is v 8 A0 »»g ¼2 ¬ p
1 ‡ 3:08 £ 10 p pP v
used for cutting, all of these parameters may require A3 f Mw P g f w
re-adjustment, which consumes a considerable amount
of time and eVort. Moreover, in the laser cutting process where f is the fraction of the pressure drop in the kerf, ¼
many de®ciencies in cutting quality can result. One of the is the molecular diameter (aÊngstroÈms), Mw is the
de®ciencies in the laser cutting quality may be related to molecular weight (g/molecular unit) of the assisting
the slow drifts and disturbances of the process. These can gas, Pg and »g are the pressure and density of the assist-
occur mainly as a result of velocity ¯uctuations during ing gas and ²u is the superheating factor in the melt pool.
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 EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE KERF WIDTH 1359

Table 1 Properties of the workpiece used in the computations microscopy (SEM) microphotography of the cut surfaces
was carried out. To measure the striation depths and
Properties Values Units
widths, surface roughness measurement was carried out
Boiling temperature 3133 K using a Bendix stylus instrument.
Density of assisting gas 1.97 kg/m3
Density of workpiece 7880 kg/m3
Fraction of evaporation contribution 0.1 Ð
4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
…0 < ­ < 1†
Fraction of pressure drop …0 < f < 1† 0.1 Ð
Latent heat of melting 2:72 £ 105 J/kg
The eVect of laser cutting parameters on the kerf width in
Latent heat of boiling 6:10 £ 106 J/kg
Melting temperature 1809 K laser oxygen-assisted cutting of mild steel is considered.
Molecular diameter of oxygen 6 AÊ The aVecting parameters are selected on the basis of a
Speci®c heat capacity 460 J/kg K previous study [10]. The parameters include laser
Superheating factor 0.02 Ð
Thermal conductivity 80.3 W/m K output power, laser scanning speed (cutting speed) and
Thermal diVusivity 2:21 £ 10¡5 m2 /s the energy coupling factor at the workpiece surface.
The energy coupling at the workpiece surface plays an
important role in the laser cutting process. When the
Equation (2) is used to determine the kerf width while high power laser beam is absorbed by the workpiece
the energy coupling factor (A), laser power (P) and material, solid state heating, melting and evaporation
cutting speed (v) are considered as variables in equation of the workpiece material result. The melted and the eva-
(2). The material properties in the computations are porated material together with the oxygen from the
given in Table 1. impinging gas initiate a high temperature exothermic
reaction. This ionizes the evaporation front slightly and
generates a partially ionized surface plasma [12], which
3 EXPERIMENTAL DETAILS scatters the laser beam and modi®es the focusing condi-
tions of the incident laser beam. In addition, the partially
The experiment was carried out to investigate the ionized surface plasma acts as a heat source, enlarging
parameters aVecting the kerf width size during CO2 the size of the melt in the kerf. Moreover, when the inci-
laser cutting of mild steel. The experimental set-up is dent beam is partially blocked by the surface plasma, less
shown in Fig. 1. incident laser energy reaches the workpiece. This reduces
A CO2 laser delivering a nominal output power of the mass removal rate and the size of the surface plasma
1600 W was used and a ZnSe lens was employed to decreases which in turn results in more laser energy
focus the laser beam. Oxygen as assisting gas was intro- reaching the workpiece surface. This, later, accelerates
duced coaxially with the laser beam through a nozzle. A the mass removal rate [12]. Consequently, the high tem-
computer-controlled x, y table was used to mount the perature oxidation reaction, in most cases, results in a
mild steel workpieces of 2 mm thickness. The laser transiently varying energy coupling mechanism at the
power intensity was varied in between 500 and 1500 W workpiece surface. Therefore, the energy coupling
while the x, y table speed was changed within the range needs to be considered as one of the aVecting parameters
1±4 cm/s in the experiment. The oxygen pressure was in the analysis. Two levels of each aVecting parameter are
set to 175 kPa. considered, which are given in Table 2.
After completion of the cutting process, the widths of In the analysis, the diVerence of kerf width size (¢wk )
the resulting cut were measured and scanning electron due to each aVecting parameter is also considered. The

Fig. 1 Experimental set-up

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1360 B S YILBAS

Table 2 AVecting process parameters and their levels increased energy available at the workpiece surface,
which in turn increases the size of the melt zone in the
Variables P (W) A V (cm/s)
kerf. The large increase in ¢wk is observed for the condi-
Levels 500 and 1500 0.3 and 0.6 1 and 4 tion corresponding to low cutting speed and high power
intensity. This suggests that, at high power and low speed
cutting conditions, when ¢An =An varies by 5 per cent the
diVerence of kerf width size is determined from size of the kerf width changes by almost 1±10 per cent
depending on the energy coupling factor. Consequently,
¢wk ˆ …wk †Pn ¡ …wk †Pn ‡ 1 as the energy coupling at the workpiece surface oscillates
as a result of the uncontrolled high temperature oxida-
where Pn is any aVecting parameter at the nth level.
tion reaction, the kerf width also oscillates. This initiates
The variation of ¢wk due to changes of the aVecting
striation formation and increases the size of the stria-
parameters is also considered. In this case, any of the
tions. Therefore, care should be taken during the high
aVecting parameters is increased gradually and the corre-
power laser cutting process to regulate and control the
sponding kerf width change is determined. Then, the
assisting gas pressure properly in order to minimize the
amount of increment is normalized by the magnitude
oscillation in energy coupling at the workpiece surface
of the aVecting parameter, i.e. ¢Pn =Pn , where ¢Pn is
due to high temperature oxidation reaction.
the increment in the parameter at the nth level and Pn
Figure 3 shows the variation of kerf width with the
is the parameter at the nth level. This arrangement
cutting speed and ¢wk with the percentage of cutting
enables the change in ¢wk due to a certain percentage
speed variation (¢v n =v n ). In general, kerf width
of change in the parameter to be identi®ed. If the laser
decreases with increasing cutting speed. The high laser
processing parameters (aVecting parameters) vary
power results in a small kerf width provided that the
slightly during the cutting process, striation is formed
decrease in the kerf width is non-linear with the cutting
on the kerf surface. This is because of the change of
speed. When comparing the experimental results with
¢wk during the cutting process, i.e. variation of aVecting
the present predictions [equation (2)], they are in reason-
parameters results in varying kerf width. Moreover, var-
ably good agreement. In the case of ¢wk (Fig. 3b), high
iation of kerf size due to variation of any aVecting
laser power with a high energy coupling factor results in
parameter identi®es the signi®cance of the parameter in
a large ¢wk . Moreover, a 5 per cent variation in ¢v n =v n
striation formation.
results in 2±4 per cent variations in the kerf width for a
Figure 2 shows the variation of kerf width with energy
laser power of 1500 W and an energy coupling factor of
coupling factor (A) and of the kerf width diVerence
0.6. As ¢v n =v n increases, ¢wk increases considerably.
(¢wk ) with percentage of energy coupling factor
During the laser cutting process, if the cutting speed
(¢An =An ). The kerf width increases with increasing
varies without regulation of the laser output power, the
energy coupling factor. This is because of the energy
size of the striation is ampli®ed. This is especially true
transfer to the workpiece, which increases as the energy
when odd-shaped curves or sharp corners are subjected
coupling factor increases. The energy coupling factor
to laser cutting.
de®nes the rate of energy transfer to the workpiece at
Figure 4 shows the variation in kerf width with laser
the surface due to laser beam energy and energy released
output power and in ¢wk with percentage of laser
during the exothermic reaction. Consequently, an
output power variation (¢Pn =Pn ). The kerf width
increasing energy coupling factor increases the energy
increases with increasing laser output power for all com-
available at the workpiece surface during the cutting
binations of the aVecting parameters. The increase in the
process. In this case, the size of the kerf width, as a con-
kerf width is more pronounced as the cutting speed
sequence of the large melt pool, increases. Moreover, the
decreases while the energy coupling factor increases.
kerf size increases considerably as the laser power input
When comparing the kerf width predicted from the
increases while the cutting speed decreases, i.e. reducing
present and previous studies [10], and the experimental
the laser cutting speed increases the duration for which
results, both predictions and the experimental results
the high temperature oxidation reaction takes place at
are in good agreement for a cutting speed of 4 cm/s and
the workpiece surface. In this case, the combination of
a ˆ 0:3. However, the present model overpredicts the
high laser power input with low cutting speed enhances
kerf width for the condition at which the cutting speed
the energy coupling at the workpiece surface and
is 1 cm/s and a ˆ 0:6. This may occur as a result of one
increases the kerf width considerably. As the cutting
or all of the following reasons:
speed increases the kerf width decreases. This is true
for high laser power input (1500 W) and large energy 1. The energy coupling at the workpiece changes as the
coupling factor case. In the case of ¢wk (Fig. 2b), an cutting speed changes; in this case, the energy coupling
increase in the percentage of energy coupling (¢An =An ) improves at low cutting speed, but worsens at high
increases ¢wk at all levels of the aVecting parameters. cutting speed. Therefore, the energy coupling factor
This indicates that an increase in ¢An =An results in should be greater than 0.3 at 4 cm/s cutting speed.

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 EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE KERF WIDTH 1361

Fig. 2 (a) Kerf width with energy coupling factor for diVerent laser powers and cutting speeds. (b) Variation in
kerf width with energy coupling factor variation (¢A=A) for diVerent laser powers and cutting speeds
2. The simpli®ed model used at present predicts the kerf ¢wk for a cutting speed of 4 cm/s and an energy coupling
width with some error when extreme cutting condi- factor of 0.6 as compared with experimental ®ndings.
tions are introduced. This suggests that the energy coupling factor of 0.6
may not represent the actual case and it is on the high
Nevertheless, the trends of the predictions and the side. Moreover, it is observed that variation in laser
experimental results are similar. In the case of ¢wk output power modi®es the size of the kerf considerably.
(Fig. 4b), ¢wk rises with increasing ¢Pn =Pn . The rate In this case, the kerf size increases substantially.
of increase in ¢wk is more pronounced for a cutting Figure 5 shows microphotographs of striation patterns
velocity of 1 cm/s and an energy coupling factor of 0.6. and the kerf surfaces that resulted during the laser
¢wk predicted from the present study agrees well with cutting process. The striation size increases as the laser
the previous and experimental results for a cutting output power increases while the cutting speed decreases.
speed of 4 cm/s and an energy coupling factor of 0.3. In addition, some cracks at the kerf surface are observed.
However, the present predictions slightly overestimate This occurs because of the solidi®cation of the molten

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1362 B S YILBAS

Fig. 3 (a) Kerf width with cutting speed for diVerent energy coupling factors and laser powers. (b) Variation
in kerf width with cutting speed variation for diVerent energy coupling factors and laser powers

oxide layer on the surface. Top views of the laser-cut
surfaces are shown in Fig. 6. At high laser power
and low cutting speed, a striation pattern is evident.
However, the striation pattern is minimized when cutting
speed increases, i.e. parallel-sided cut edges with small
striations result.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The eVects of laser output power, cutting speed and
energy coupling factor on the resulting kerf size are
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 215 Part B Downloaded from pib.sagepub.com at UNIV OF CONNECTICUT on January 6, 2014
examined. A simpli®ed formulation of the kerf width
size based on the lumped-parameter method is used to
predict the kerf width size and striation formation. An
experiment is carried out to verify the present predic-
tions. In addition, a previous formulation for the kerf
width size is employed for comparison with the present
predictions. It is found that increases in laser power,
energy coupling factor and reducing cutting speed
result in increased kerf width. The kerf width varies
considerably as the velocity, laser power and energy
coupling factor change slightly; in which case, striation
size increases. The speci®c conclusions derived from the
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 EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE KERF WIDTH 1363

Fig. 4 (a) Kerf width with laser power for cutting speeds and energy coupling factors. (b) Variation in kerf
width with laser power variation for diVerent cutting speeds and energy coupling factors

present study are as follows:
1. Increasing the energy coupling factor increases the
kerf width. This is more pronounced at low cutting
speed and high laser power. In this case, energy
available at the workpiece surface increases, which
in turn increases the size of the melt zone in the
kerf. The kerf width increases by as much as 10
per cent when the energy coupling factor varies by
5 per cent. This indicates that, in the laser cutting
process, the factors aVecting the energy coupling at
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the workpiece surface need to be regulated in order
to minimize the size of the striations.
2. Increasing cutting speed reduces the kerf width pro-
vided that it does not exceed the maximum cutting
speed possible for the laser cutting process. When
the cutting speed decreases for a set of ®xed aVecting
parameters, then the rate of energy available at the
surface increases. This enlarges the melt size in the
kerf, which in turn increases the striation size.
Therefore, for sharp corner cutting, care should
be taken to adjust the cutting speed accordingly.
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 215 Part B
1364 B S YILBAS

Fig. 6 SEM microphotographs of top surface of laser-cut

workpieces

Otherwise, a small variation in the cutting speed

Fig. 5 SEM microphotographs of striations
Proc Instn Mech Engrs Vol 215 Part B
results in a considerable variation in the kerf size.
3. The eVect of laser power on the kerf width is highly
signi®cant, since a small variation in laser power
alters the kerf size considerably. The laser power
and the energy coupling factor have a coupling
eVect on the resulting kerf size. In this case, as the
laser power and the energy coupling factor increase,
the kerf width size increases substantially. Conse-
quently, in the laser cutting operation, a small
variation in laser power results in a large variation in
the kerf size.
4. The present predictions for the kerf size and ¢wk
agree reasonably well with the experimental results
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 EFFECT OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE KERF WIDTH
as well as the previous predictions. The discrepancies
among the results are small and this can be attributed
to the extreme level of parameters selected at present.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors acknowledge the support of King Fahd
University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi
Arabia, for this work.
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