Estimation of laser cutting process efficiency

Abstract

The efficiency of laser cutting processes is generally treated in technical literature in qualitative terms, referring to ways to increase it. The present paper is focussed on metal cutting by laser and proposes some quantitative means to estimate the process efficiency. For certain working conditions-machine-Tool, material to be processed, specific costs and other-The effectiveness and the specific power consumption are computed based on the main cutting parameters: laser power and cutting speed. The proposed mathematical relationship can be successfully used when the criterion of process optimization is the environment friendliness. A relevant case study is presented, as well. When significant different samples are to be compared, the criterion used to evaluate laser cutting efficiency becomes very important.