ME 308 Experiment Report

Experiment 6

Non-conventional Laser Beam Machining

Name-Ashutosh Garg

Entry Number- 2018MEB1213

Mobile Number- (+91)83608-75243

Email ID- 2018meb1213@iitrpr.ac.in

Date of sharing- 10th June 2021

Date of submission- 17th June 2021

1
Summary of the experiment

Cutting of sheets was done through laser beam cutting, a non-conventional process. It concentrates
the heat energy from a laser and no tooling is required in this process. Fusion cutting,
Photochemical ablation and sublimation cutting are the three forms of laser cutting.

Metal laser cutting: To perform the experiment, water is drained from the compressor to ensure
minimum moisture and valves were also closed. Change pipe in humidifier from orange to blue to
meet the 20 Bar high-pressure requirement, and this should be fone after the compressor pressure
gauge reads to zero. Valve 1 is then opened. Cutting speed, gas type, gas pressure, and power were
set up using the Computer at the values of 0.5 m/min, Nitrogen, 25 Bars, and 1000 W respectively.
After setting up all these things, the cutting operation was performed on a metal sheet and the
dimensions of the cut sample were measured and noted.

Non- Metal Laser cutting: This operation was performed on glass with a speed of 15mm/sec and
power of 70%. The cutting operation was performed after setting the standoff distance of 5mm.
After the glass, we performed the operations on a sample of wood with the respective required
parameters. The final dimensions of the workpieces were noted.

We also calculated the surface roughness for wood and metal piece.

The outcome of the experiment

Metal sheet: Error of 0.49% was observed in diameter, observed diameter was 43.86 mm whereas
the desired diameter was 44.08 mm.

Glass Specimen: Error of 1.4% was observed in diameter, observed diameter was 19.72 mm
whereas the desired diameter was 20 mm.

Wood Specimen: Error of 1.4% was observed in diameter, observed diameter was 19.75 mm
whereas the desired diameter was 20.03 mm.

Surface Roughness Values: For wood piece: {1: (Z = -24.7 µm, Ra = 4.36 µm), 2: (Z = -40.6 µm,
Ra = 6.4 µm)}

For Metal sheet: (Z = -8.2 µm, Ra = 3.89 µm)

Specific observations from the Experiment:

Laser cutting is indeed a great method to cut metals and non-metals as the speed of cutting is high.
Material wastage is also reduced. Though we need to notice some of the things that in metal

2
cutting no chemical processes were involved whereas in non-metal cutting we were able to see the
combustion and can confirm that it was a chemically active process.

Assignment Question:

1. Discuss the complete experimental procedure in brief.

Ans 1-
Metal laser cutting: To perform the experiment, water is drained from the compressor to ensure
minimum moisture and valves were also closed. Change pipe in humidifier from orange to blue to
meet the 20 Bar high-pressure requirement, and this should be fone after the compressor pressure
gauge reads to zero. Valve 1 is then opened. Cutting speed, gas type, gas pressure, and power were
set up using the Computer at the values of 0.5 m/min, Nitrogen, 25 Bars, and 1000 W respectively.
After setting up all these things, the cutting operation was performed on a metal sheet and the
dimensions of the cut sample were measured and noted.

Non- Metal Laser cutting: This operation was performed on glass with a speed of 15mm/sec and
power of 70%. The cutting operation was performed after setting the standoff distance of 5mm.
After the glass, we performed the operations on a sample of wood with the respective required
parameters. The final dimensions of the workpieces were noted.

2. Calculate the kurf width at upper and lower surfaces for different process parameters
shown in table below.
3. Calculate the Taper angle for respective parameters.
Ans 2,3-

Power Speed Wub Wus Wlb Wls Ku Kl Kavg Θ

(Wub-Wus) (Wlb-Wls) (Ku+Kl) ATAN((Wls-W-)
(W) (m/min) /2 /2 /2 /10)
1000 0.5 15.07 14.81 15.06 14.82 0.13 0.12 0.125 0.0009999997
1000 1 15.04 14.84 15.03 14.85 0.1 0.09 0.095 0.0009999997
1000 1.5 15.03 14.85 15.03 14.88 0.09 0.075 0.0825 0.0029999910
900 0.5 15.05 14.82 15.04 14.84 0.115 0.1 0.1075 0.0019999973
800 0.5 15.04 14.84 15.03 14.86 0.1 0.085 0.0925 0.0019999973

3
4. Show the trend of kerf width and taper angle with power and scanning speed for the
data provided in the table below and give a proper explanation.
Ans:

Fig. 1:Kerf width v/s Power at constant speed(0.5 m/min)

Clearly, kerf width is increasing with the increase in laser power which is also intuitive as more
power means more energy and more material can be heated and molten out.

Fig. 2:Kerf width v/s Scanning Speed at a constant power of 1000 W

With the increase in speed, kerf width is decreasing, it is expected as higher speed means less heat
supplied as time will be less and results in less melting/burning of the material.

4
 Fig. 3:Taper Angle v/s Power at constant speed of 0.5 m/min
Penetration power of the material is increasing with an increase in power supply. And hence more
straight cut is expected will less taper angle which is described in the graph. Of course, there will
be a threshold value for the penetration and that is 900 in our case.

Fig. 3:Taper Angle v/s Scanning Speed at a constant power of 1000 W

As we can see from the above discussions that scanning speed is inversely proportional to the heat
or the energy being supplied as more speed means less time the power supplied and hence with the
increase in speed the penetration will be less resulting in increase of the raper angle. In this case
also, there is some threshold expected and it is 1.00 in our case.

5. Write the range of typical surface roughness of the cut surface for mild steel and
wood.
Ans-
For mild steel: Lies Between 0.7 to 3.9 μm
For wood: Lies Between 4 to 8 μm.