Optimization of the process of laser cutting austenitic stainless steel

Efficient control of laser cutting processes is closely related to the knowledge of heat effects in the cutting front and its surroundings, Similarly to other machining processes using high power densities, in laser cutting processes it is very important to monitor the heating phenomena in the workpiece material due to heat input. In laser cutting processes with oxygen as an auxiliary gas, cutting energy is a combination of laser beam energy and the energy of the exothermic reactions occurring in the cutting front, The presence of oxygen in the process increases cutting efficiency, but it also causes additional physical processes in the cutting front which render a more detailed analysis of the cutting phenomena difficult, On the basis of experimental results, it was proven that heat effects in the cutting front influenced the quality of cut decisively.