Monitoring the Quality of Laser Cutting

Abstract In engineering industry the production of components begins with separation of the base material and this technological operation can be time consuming, especially in large-scale production. Such production can be made more efficient by means of laser technology focusing on material cutting. Efficiency of cutting is determined not only by shortening of working time or energy saving, but also by the required cutting quality. In the paper we compare the impact of cutting speed changing and laser beam performance on the cutting edge quality. Based on requirements of dimensional accuracy and preset roughness of the cutting edge, we evaluated the cutting quality of laser in samples of different materials. Measured values of sample dimensions and roughness are compared in conclusions of the paper, where we estimate whether the samples meet specified requirements of dimensional accuracy and roughness of the cutting edge in order to make the production process more efficient.