AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON INFLUENCE OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON DROSS PROPERTIES IN LASER MACHINING OF AISI 304 MATERIAL

The present paper describes an experimental study on influence of process parameters on dross properties in laser machining of AISI 304 material. Process parameters namely laser power, cutting speed and gas pressure are considered in the present work. Design of experiments is done using response surface methodology and analysis of variance is performed in order to identify significance and influence of process parameters on dross height. It is found that laser power and gas pressure are most significant parameters followed by cutting speed. Dross height increases with increase in laser power and decreases with decrease in gas pressure. On the basis of experimental analysis, a second order mathematical model is developed to predict dross height. Model predictions and experimental results are found in reasonable agreement. Further, optimization of process parameters is also performed to minimize dross height