TY - JOUR
TI - Analysis of the heat affected zone in CO2 laser cutting of stainless steel
AU - Madić Miloš J
AU - Radovanović Miroslav R
JN - Thermal Science
PY - 2012
VL - 16
IS - 12
SP - 363
EP - 373
PT - Article
AB - This paper presents an investigation into the effect of the laser cutting  parameters on the heat affected zone in CO2 laser cutting of AISI 304  stainless steel. The mathematical model for the heat affected zone was  expressed as a function of the laser cutting parameters such as the laser  power, cutting speed, assist gas pressure and focus position using the  artificial neural network. To obtain experimental database for the  artificial neural network training, laser cutting experiment was planned as  per Taguchi’s L27 orthogonal array with three levels for each of the cutting  parameter. Using the 27 experimental data sets, the artificial neural  network was trained with gradient descent with momentum algorithm and the  average absolute percentage error was 2.33%. The testing accuracy was then  verified with 6 extra experimental data sets and the average predicting  error was 6.46%. Statistically assessed as adequate, the artificial neural  network model was then used to investigate the effect of the laser cutting  parameters on the heat affected zone. To analyze the main and interaction  effect of the laser cutting parameters on the heat affected zone, 2-D and  3-D plots were generated. The analysis revealed that the cutting speed had  maximum influence on the heat affected zone followed by the laser power,  focus position and assist gas pressure. Finally, using the Monte Carlo  method the optimal laser cutting parameter values that minimize the heat  affected zone were identified.