A Study of Fiber Laser Micro-Grooving of 316L Stainless Steel at Different Temperatures

The present article deals with the generation of micro-grooves on 316L stainless steel (SS) by a nanosecond pulsed fiber laser system. Fabrication of micro-grooves on 316L SS has immensely contributed to the biomedical and automotive industries through improving the mechanical, lubrication, and corrosion resistance properties. In the present work, the considered process parameters are the preheating temperature (100°C and 200°C), along with the room temperature (24°C), cutting speed, sawing angle, pulse frequency, and laser power. The ranges of cutting speed and sawing angle are 0.1–1.1 mm s−1 and 0.1°–1°, respectively. Besides, pulse frequency and laser power vary from 55 kHz to 85 kHz and from 15 W to 45 W, respectively. The constant parameters are the pulse width of 99% and assist air pressure of 6 kgf cm−2. The variable parameters for the analysis are cut width and heat-affected zone (HAZ) width. The article aims to showcase a comprehensive study of fiber laser process parameters at different temperatures (preheated condition and room temperature) with variable sawing angles to produce better process control and bring about each considered process parameter’s critical value. The experimental results show that higher dimensions of cut width and HAZ width are observed at 200°C with the increment of sawing angle and laser power, compared to other temperatures. With the increment of cutting speed and laser power, the HAZ width tends to rise sharply. A significant drop in cut width and HAZ width dimensions is observed with the increment in pulse frequency for any temperature.