Comparison of surface roughness quality created by abrasive water jet and CO2 laser beam cutting

Abstract

This paper deals with an evaluation of the surface roughness quality created by abrasive water jet and by CO2 laser, in terms of influence of the selected technological parameters on the final quality of machined surfaces. The main objective of these experimental studies was to consider the use of both technologies for cutting of difficult to cut materials. Experiments presented in the paper were carried out on titanium ASTM B265-99 samples. The machined surfaces of samples were measured by an optical profilometer. Subsequently, selected topographical characteristics were studied. The obtained data were used for comparison of surface roughness parameters Ra in different depths. Based on achieved results the comparison of both technologies was made.