Laser cutting of pure aluminum and its alloys causes problems often due to the high reflectivity and the process stability. Experiments with the cutting gases industrial oxygen and industrial nitrogen in pure and alloyed aluminum (Al99,5 and AlMg3) with and without surface treatment have been performed, and they show improvements in the cutting speed and the cut quality using the right combination of parameters. Advanced surface analyzing methods such as Auger-analysis and SEM have been used in order to analyze the cut kerf and improve the process. The cut quality is evaluated according to the German standard DIN 2310 measuring the roughness and the squareness of the cut kerf. Additionally some corrosion test of the cut kerf have been performed, using the Chemical Measurements by Titration and Electrochemical methods. Mechanically cut surfaces have been used as references for the surface and corrosion methods, in order to compare the `new' laser technique and the `old' traditional one.

Date Published: 7 September 1994
PDF: 12 pages
Proc. SPIE 2207, Laser Materials Processing: Industrial and Microelectronics Applications, (7 September 1994); doi: 10.1117/12.184759

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2207:
Laser Materials Processing: Industrial and Microelectronics Applications
Eckhard Beyer; Maichi Cantello; Aldo V. La Rocca; Lucien Diego Laude; Flemming O. Olsen; Gerd Sepold, Editor(s)