Abstract

A high power laser is commonly used in laser material processing and one such application is the gas assisted laser cutting where coaxial gas jet is used in conjunction with the laser beam. Oxygen is often utilized to enhance the process performance through the release of energy in the combustion of iron to form FeO, Fe₂O₃ and Fe₃O₄. Rather than adopting CW lasers with average power of kilowatts level, O'Neil et al. demonstrated that pulsed lasers with high peak power but much less average power are also feasible for gas assisted laser cutting [1], as long as the surface temperature produced exceeds the ignition temperature. A further reduction in the power requirements might be possible by shaping the narrowly focused laser beam to a ring shaped profile.

© 2009 IEEE