THE MACROSCOPIC ANALYSIS OF SAMPLES CUT WITH A CO2 LASER TYPE TC L4003

In industrial practice, metal materials such as steel, tool steel, stainless steel, aluminium and aluminium alloys are cut using laser (considered an allied welding process). But laser can also cut materials such as titanium, silicon steels and titanium alloys. Laser radiation is used also for cutting non-metallic materials such as wood, leather, glass, ceramics and plastics (polyethylene, polyamide). Compared with other methods of cutting (plasma, oxyacetylene, erosion), laser cutting process has the advantage that the material processing is possible without contact or forces. To observe the thermal influence of the laser beam on the material there were carried out nine tests at different processing speed and laser powers. The tests were performed on different sheet thicknesses.