Abstract
Modern day industries face a stiff challenge in cutting advanced materials like metal matrix composites with desired surface quality. The present work investigates the possibility of obtaining good quality characteristics (surface roughness and kerf width) with pulsed CO2 laser cutting of Al6061/Al2O3 composite. The parameters involved in this non-contact type cutting process like the beam power, assist gas pressure, flow rate of assist gas, pulsing frequency and speed of spot movement were varied according to a structured L-27 orthogonal array, and the quality characteristics including surface finish and kerf width were observed. Response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to generate quadratic models for the observed quality characteristics, and desirability analysis was used to obtain the optimal setting of laser cutting parameters. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) images, EDX plot and P-profile graphs were also examined to study the cut surfaces.