High-Speed Camera Helps Determine Melt Flow Characters in Laser Cutting Machines

Laser flame cutting of metal plates is a well-established industrial process that uses oxygen as an assist gas instead of inert gases to increase process capabilities. However, this process is characterized by a much narrower window of optimal process parameters when compared to cutting processes involving an inert assist gas, such as laser fusion cutting with nitrogen. Determining those parameters is critical to productivity and accuracy. An experimental setup facilitating systematic in-process observation of trim-cut testing was recently introduced by researchers in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Katholieke Universiteit in Leuven, Belgium.