Comparison of surface roughness quality created by abrasive waterjet and CO2 laser beam cutting

This paper focuses on evaluation of the surface roughness quality of cutting walls created by the hydroabrasive water jet and by the CO2 laser beam cutting in terms of impact assessment of different traverse speeds and selected technological parameters on the final quality of a machined surface. Experiments done in this work were carried out on ASTM B265-99 titanium samples. Machined surfaces of samples were measured by the optical profilometer and selected topographical elements were studied. The obtained data were used for the comparison of surface roughness parameter Ra in different depths of cutting wall. The parameter Ra determines the micro unevenness of a basic profile. Based on achieved results the comparison of both technologies was perfoormed and possible comparable criterias were studied.