Evaluation of the roundness quality of galvanized steel plate due to variations in cutting speed and nozzle diameter during the laser cutting

Abstract

Generally, laser cutting processes aim to cut materials with high accuracy, as well as precise and near-perfect sizes and results. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the roundness quality of the holes cut by laser cutting on galvanised steel plates; two variations are given, such as cutting speed and nozzle diameter.The type of laser used is a fibre laser. The material used is galvanized steel with a thickness of 3 mm with dimensions of 200 mm in length and 200 mm in width. A round profile is good if the distance between the points of the geometric shape is the same distance from the centre point.The measurement results show that the smallest radius deviation is with an average value of 20.08 mm at a nozzle diameter of 2.5 mm and a cutting speed of 3 m/min, close to the initial radius value of 20.00 mm.During the laser cutting process, The best roundness quality is the combination of a nozzle diameter of 2.5 mm and a cutting speed of 3 m/min with a small deviation (the index deviation is 0.4%). At the same time, the biggest deviation in this experiment is the combination of parameters with a nozzle diameter of 3 mm and a cutting speed of 4 m/min (the maximum deviation value is 1%).The use of the proposed nozzle diameter and cutting speed approach is an important requirement for industrial applications with laser cutting to get the right product for its intended use.This article presents different nozzle diameters and cutting speeds to reveal the roundness quality due to these variations, where the roundness quality will be adapted for a particular application.