Analysis of cutting process of materials using low power laser diode and CO ₂

Recently the use of laser to various kinds of applications has been applied. Therefore, to obtain better results in the development of a cutting machine of materials using low power laser, cutting system should be analyzed, both in simulation and experiment. In this experiment, low power laser diode and laser CO ₂ were used. The gypsum and polymer materials were used in this experiment. For the simulation of cutting process, software was used while the experimental process used CNC milling machine as a manipulator. From the research it is shown that parameters such as speed, current, voltage, number of pass, number of layer and compressed air influence the depth of cut in the process of cutting. By using Response Surface Method (RSM), in laser CO ₂ cutting for gypsum it is found that power and number of layer have significant effect to make depth of cut deeper, while the speed has no significant effect to increase the depth of cut.