Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No.

3/2011

Relation between Cutting Surface Quality and Alloying Element

Contents when Using a CO2 Laser

J. Litecká, J. Fabianová, S. Pavlenko

Abstract
This paper deals with the influence of material content on changes in the quality parameters of the cutting surface when
cutting with a laser. The study focuses on experiments to find the effect of material structure and cutting parameters on
surface roughness, Vickers microhardness and precision of laser cutting. The experimental results are shown in graphs
which illustrate the suitability of materials for achieving required cutting surface quality parameters. These results can
be used for optimizing production in practical applications using a laser cutting machine.

Keywords: laser cutting, alloyed steel, unalloyed steel, surface quality, cutting parameters.

For certain types of material (mild steel,

1 Introduction corrosion-resistant steel, ceramics, composite mate-
Laser material cutting is a progressive technology. rials, titanium, plastics) the quality of surfaces cut
However, due to high cost and high energy use, it is by a CO2 laser with an additive gas, based on EN
not as widely used in industry as traditional material ISO 9013, can be characterized by the following val-
cutting technologies. This progressive technology of- ues:
fers a wide area for researchers. It is necessary to a) perpendicularity or angularity tolerance, u;
focus on optimization and reengineering, using non- b) mean profile height, Rz .
conventional ways of machining. The following characteristic values may be used in
There are nowadays wide opportunities for using addition:
lasers in technological applications. Laser processing c) drag, Δn;
is a physical way of processing that is very clean and d) melting of the top edge, r;
has high energy density. It is able to focus energy on e) possible occurrence of dross or melting drops on
a very small surface. It is very fast, and it can reduce the lower edge of the cut.
material requirements.

2 Cutting surface quality

evaluation parameters after
laser beam cutting
The quality of the cutting area is determined by three
basic cutting parameters: cutting speed; gap width
and surface quality. The cutting speed should be as
high as possible; the gap width should be as small
as possible, and the surface quality is determined by
Ra based on STN, ČSN and Rz based on DIN, EN
ISO 9013. This standard is based on the English
text of the European Standard EN ISO 9013:2002
“Thermal cutting — Classification of thermal cuts —
Geometrical product specification and quality toler-
ances”.
The cutting area using a laser is characterized by Fig. 1: Parameters for evaluating the cutting surface dur-
analogy with most high-power cutting technologies. ing laser cutting: Rz – mean profile height, n – drag line,
A grooved track is created by laser cutting as a result α – angle of beam deviation, r – radius, w – groove width,
of the cyclic phase of the energy beam in interaction S – material thickness, Δs – thickness reduction, M –
with the material by oscillation of hot-melt flow. measured area

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 3/2011

Fig. 2: Evaluation of the range of cutting surface quality based on perpendicularity or angularity by EN ISO 9013 [7]

Fig. 3: Evaluation of the range of cutting surface quality based on the mean height of profile Rz by EN ISO 9013 [7]

In our experiments, we made precise measure- The experimental surface roughness measure-
ments based on the EN ISO 9013 standard. The ments focused on finding all roughness parameters
measurements focused on finding the perpendicular- Ra , Rq and Rz . However, parameter Rz was of
ity, because the angle of the laser beam used in the greatest importance for determining the surface qual-
experiments was α = 0◦ . The perpendicularity value ity.
was determined according to the following equation: The measurement was supplemented by a Vick-
ers microhardness measurement. This is not de-
u = UPS − UNS (1)
fined in EN ISO 9013 as a surface quality parameter.
where: u – perpendicularity value, U P S – measured However, microhardness is a very important prop-
value on the upper side of the cutting surface, U N S – erty of thermally cut materials because of its effects
measured value on the lower side of the cutting sur- on the other processes, especially mechanical work-
face. ing.

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3 Description of the
experiment
The following materials were chosen for an exper-
iment to determine the quality characteristics of
material cutting using a CO2 laser with different
structures, i.e. with different alloys: S355J2C+N,
QStE380TM and S2355JR. The samples were cut
with dimensions 40 × 40 mm, 6 mm in thickness.
The samples were marked by laser engraving, and
Fig. 5: Principle of precision measurement
laser setting parameters were allocated for each sam-
ple. Each material was cut to six different parame- Vickers microhardness. This test involves im-
ters. Each sample was measured ten times, and the pressing an indentor (a diamond square pyramid with
value was verified by the Grubbs test. The evaluation top angle 136◦) into the test material. The samples
was made on the basis of the measured results. The were loaded by force F = 200gf for a period t = 20 s
measurements focused on the quality of the cutting in the normal direction on the surface of the sample.
surface. Ten impressions were made on each sample along the
bottom cut edge at a distance of 0.20 mm from the
3.1 Quality parameter measurement edge, and the average microhardness was calculated
procedure nearest to the heat affected zone. Vickers microhard-
ness is marked as HVM , and is defined as force size F
Surface roughness. The touch method was used on impression surface S. The principle of Vickers mi-
for measuring the roughness parameters. A sharp crohardness measurement is illustrated in Figure 6.
point which moves on the surface of the measured
object was used for finding the surface roughness
value. The measurements were made using Mitutoyo
Surftest SJ-301 mobile equipment. This is workshop
equipment, but its parameters were convenient for
the experiment. The test results can be displayed in
several international standards DIN, JIS, ISO, ANSI.

Fig. 6: Principle of Vickers microhardness measurement

4 Experimental materials
Fig. 4: Mean profile height Rz by EN ISO 9013 [7] 4.1 S355J2C+N (1.0579+N) material
normative EN 10025-2/04
Measuring of precision. Each sample was cut
with nominal dimension N D = 40 mm. The aim was This is an alloyed construction steel with good ductil-
to find the material and cutting parameters that are ity. It is used for steel structures, welded structures
able to cut out the most precise dimension. The cut- and machining parts with high tensile yield strength
ting surface was divided into two parts — upper side and for long and plane products that are hot rolled. It
(Ups) and lower side (Uns), because the start and run is for welded use, screwed and riveted structures with
surface of the material is unevenly melted. The mea- frequent cold shaping (blending, flanging, beading,
surement was made on ten points along a cut, 1 mm profiling), static and dynamic stressed, for working
from the top cut edge and 1 mm from the bottom cut at normal temperatures and at reduced temperatures
edge. The measurement principle is illustrated in Fi- to −20 ◦ C. It is suitable for all welded operations. It
gure 5. The measurement was performed using the is suitable for cold shaping, with marking C. The fi-
3D coordinate Rapid THOME ME 5008 measuring nal condition of the supplies is normalization rolled,
machine with high-precision measurement. with marking +N.

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 3/2011

Table 1: Chemical properties of S355J2C+N material

Quality based on
EN 10 204-3.1 Chemical analysis of melting with number 58 479 in %
U. S. Steel Kosice
Nb V Ni Mo Cu CEV Cr
0.04 0.003 0.01 0.002 0.03 0.414 0.03
S355J2C+N
C Mn Si P S Al
0.20 1.20 0.47 0.012 0.007 0.042

Table 2: Mechanical properties of material S355J2C+N

Mechanical properties
Quality based on
Lower yield point Breaking strength Tensibility KV
EN 10 204-3.1
U. S. Steel Kosice Re Rm A5
[MPa] [MPa] [%] [◦ C] [J]
S355J2C+N 414 554 28.0 −20 83

4.2 QStE 380 TM material 4.3 S235JR material normative EN

normative SEW 092/90 10025-2/04
This is a micro-alloyed, small grained, high-quality This is a non-alloyed high-quality construction steel.
steel with a low content of carbon, suitable for cold It is used for plane and long products hot rolled in
shaping. It is used for long and plane products which thickness up to 250 mm with a certain peak load for
are hot rolled, e.g.: strips, sheet metals, wide steel. +20 ◦C. This steel is not suitable for heat treatment,
Final condition of supplies: thermomechanical rolled except in the case of products supplied with status
is marked TM. Steel quality marking of class QStE +N. These products can be hot shaped or normal-
with a triple number which expresses the minimum ized after delivery. Normalization after removing the
lower yield point value Re , which is measured in the internal stress is allowed. This steel is suitable for
normal direction in the direction of rolling. screwed and riveted constructions. Welding prop-
erty: this steel is suitable for welding.

Table 3: Chemical properties of QStE380TM material

Quality based on
EN 10 204-3.1 Chemical analysis of melting with number 53019 in %
U. S. Steel Kosice
C Mn Si P S Al Nb V Ti
QStE380TM
0.08 0.90 0.01 0.009 0.006 0.039 0.04 0.001 0.013

Table 4: Mechanical properties of QStE380TM material

Mechanical properties
Quality based on
Lower yield point Breaking strength Tensibility KV
EN 10 204-3.1
U. S. Steel Kosice Re Rm A5
[MPa] [MPa] [%] [◦ C] [J]
QStE380TM 482 540 29.0 −40 40

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Table 5: Chemical properties of S235JR material

Quality based on
EN 10 204-2.2 Chemical analysis of melting with number 53019 in %
U. S. Steel Kosice
C Mn Si P S Al N V Ti
S235JR
0.19 1.50 – 0.045 0.045 – 0.014 – –

Table 6: Mechanical properties of S235JR material

Mechanical properties
Quality based on
Lower yield point Breaking strength Tensibility KV
EN 10 204-3.1
U. S. Steel Kosice Re Rm A5
[MPa] [MPa] [%] [◦ C] [J]
S235JR 276 439 31.5 20 40

Table 7: Group of all cutting parameters used in the experiment

Index of Cutting Gas Cutting Focal distance Nozzle

Power Gas
cutting speed pressure gap of lens diameter
parameters [m/min] [W] [bar] [mm] [mm] [mm]
1 2.8 3 200 0.8 0.3 7.5 1 O2
2 2.6 2 700 0.6 0.3 7.5 1 O2
3 2.2 2 000 0.6 0.3 7.5 1 O2
4 2 1 800 0.6 0.3 7.5 1 O2
5 3.2 3 200 0.8 0.3 7.5 1 O2
6 2.5 3 200 0.8 0.3 7.5 1 O2

5 Experimental results flections on the measured length. QStE 380 TM ma-

terial showed the best surface roughness, with cutting
For the experiment, the samples were marked with parameters: cutting speed – 2.2 m · min−1 , power –
letters of the alphabet and numerical indices to dif- 2 000 W, gas pressure – 0.6 bar.
ferentiate the materials and the cutting parameters.
The materials were marked as follows:
• S355J2C+N by letter “B”
• QStE 380 TM by letter “C”
• S235JR by letter “D”
Each material was cut with six different cutting pa-
rameters (in Table 7). The cutting parameters were
marked with numerical indices “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6”, in-
dicating changes in cutting speed, power and work-
ing gas pressure. The samples with the best quality
results were selected for further tests. The surface
roughness results are shown in Figure 7, Vickers mi-
crohardness (Figure 8) and precision of the cut sur-
face to nominal distance (Figure 9).
Figure 7 illustrates three basic surface roughness
parameters Rz – average value of the five highest
points and the five lowest points in the material; Rq –
sum of the average values of the highest and lowest
points on the measured length; Ra – average of all de- Fig. 7: Evaluation of surface roughness

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Acta Polytechnica Vol. 51 No. 3/2011

Figure 8 presents average Vickers microhardness that QStE 380 TM material again has the best pre-
values. These values were measured along the heat- cision values. For the purposes of the experiment,
affected area to obtain the average microhardness the upper side and the lower side of an experimental
value. Again, the best results were for QStE 380 TM sample were melted. This was due to the increased
material, but the cutting parameters were changed exothermic reaction of the alloyed elements. A cor-
to: cutting speed – 2.5 m · min−1 , power – 3 200 W, rection can be made by changing the cutting beam
gas pressure – 0.8 bar. parameters. The cutting parameters for the highest-
precision sample are: cutting speed – 2 m · min−1 ,
power – 1 800 W, gas pressure – 0.6 bar.

6 Conclusion
Our experiment focused on finding the influence of
materials with different content of alloy elements on
the quality of the cut surface. The results of the
test show that for cutting with a CO2 laser the best
material is QStE 380 TM. This material has a low
carbide and alloy element content. It had the best
results for all measured quality parameters. The re-
sults also show that in order to achieve the required
cut quality it is necessary to correct the cutting laser
parameters, which also influence the cut quality. It
Fig. 8: Vickers microhardness evaluation
is important in the component production process
to determine the necessary priorities. These priori-
ties depend on the subsequent processing or on the
practical use of the products. It is very important
to design an optimization solution for achieving the
required results with minimum operating costs. Our
results can help companies to improve the efficiency
and cost-effectiveness of their production.

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Young Scientists. Vol. 1, Issue 1 (2010), p. 11–16. doc. Ing. Jarmila Fabianová, CSc.
ISSN 1338-2349. Phone: +421 051 772 37 96
E-mail: [email protected]
[7] Standard EN ISO 9013:2002 Thermal cutting —
Department of Manufacturing Technologies
Classification of thermal cuts — Geometrical
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299.pdf prof. Ing. Slavko Pavlenko, CSc.
Phone: +421 051 772 37 96
Ing. Juliána Litecká E-mail: [email protected]
Department of Technological Devices
Phone: +421 051 772 37 96
E-mail: [email protected] Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies
with a seat in Prešov
Department of Technological Devices
Technical University in Košice
Faculty of Manufacturing Technologies
with a seat in Prešov Štúrova 31, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia
Technical University in Košice
Štúrova 31, 08001 Prešov, Slovakia

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