Integration for coaxial irradiation of fiber laser, oxygen jet, and oxy-fuel gas

This study introduces a convergence approach named laser oxyfuel and oxy-flame hybrid (LOXAFH) cutting, integrating laser cutting and oxyfuel cutting techniques for cutting clad steel plates. The LOXAFH method combines laser, oxyflame, and oxygen jet in a coaxial manner, harnessing 1 kW power concentration. The LOXAFH cutting head was meticulously developed on the basis of a ray transfer matrix and estimated refractive index by incompressible flow with a computational fluid dynamics program and an optical design program. The LOXAFH cutting is validated through three experiments on 15 mm clad steel plates: oxyfuel cutting, laser-assisted oxygen cutting (LASOX), and LOXAFH cutting.