Fiber laser cutting of steel plate by twin spot beam setting in scanning direction

This study investigated the effects of laser beam intensity distribution on the reduction of dross height in fiber laser cutting of a steel plate with 3.2 mm thickness. A twin-spot beam was produced by splitting a single Gaussian beam into two beams using a special axicon lens, and these beams were set in the scanning direction for cutting experiments. The power ratio of two beams (R:F = Rear power:Front power) was varied to discuss the intensity balance for the effective reduction of dross. After cutting experiments, ray tracing analysis was conducted using an optical analysis to calculate the absorbed power density distributions in the kerf. A smaller dross height of 18 μm can be achieved at a power ratio of R:F = 8:2, and its value is lower than that by a single Gaussian beam. At a power ratio of R:F = 8:2, the front beam of lower power is irradiated at the upper part of the workpiece, and the rear beam of higher power is absorbed at the lower part of the workpiece. Thus, effective heat input to the lower part of the workpiece can contribute to a reduction of the dross height. Variation of power ratio in the rear and the front beams is effective in controlling the cutting front shape, and the uniformity of absorbed power in the thickness direction can be improved by setting the rear beam of about four times higher power to the front beam of lower power to obtain a smaller dross height in the case of a 3.2 mm steel plate.