The influence of the laser cutting process parameters on the quality of the cut edge

The article describes the influence of the parameters of laser cutting on the cut edge quality of 10 mm S355J2 structural steel. The cutting process was carried out with a fiber laser. The basic evaluation criteria were measurements of perpendicularity tolerance, average profile height of roughness R_z5, visual evaluation, and measurements of hardness HV10. Moreover, the factorial regression models were prepared to investigate the standardized effects of the process parameters on the cutting quality. The variable process parameters were laser beam power, cutting velocity and working gas pressure. For regression modeling, low and high levels of these factors were considered representing the effective range of each parameter. The research presented in this paper proves that there are statistical correlations between the examined factors that have a significant impact on the achieved cutting effect. By the analysis of the process control parameters, it is possible to achieve an optimal level of quality that facilitates further technological operations on a given cutting product.