This experimental study investigated the effect of laser parameters on the machining of SS41 and SUS304. The metallic materials play an important role in engineering applications. They are widely used in high-tech industries such as aerospace, automotive, and architecture. Due to the development of technology and high-tech industrialization, the various processing technologies are being developed with the requirement of high precision. However, the conventional cutting process is difficult to meet high precision processing. Therefore, to achieve high precision processing of the SS41 and SUS304, laser manufacturing has been applied. The current study investigated the process quality of laser cutting for SS41 and SUS304, with the usage of a continuous wave CO2 laser cutting system. The experimental variables are set to the laser cutting speed, laser power, and different engineering materials. The results are significantly affected by the laser parameters. As the result, the process quality of the laser cutting has been observed by measuring the top and bottom kerf widths, as well as the size of the melting zone and Heat Affected Zone (HAZ) according to volume energy. In addition, the evaluation of the laser processing parameters is significantly important to achieve optimal cutting quality. Therefore, we observed the correlation between the laser parameters and cutting quality. These were evaluated by analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regression analysis. The experimental results of kerf top, kerf bottom, melting width, and HAZ on the laser parameters are properly predicted by multiple regression. In addition, the effect of laser parameters on the materials is determinant by the percentage of contribution of ANOVA.

3D printing technology is currently used in various fields. Precision is also becoming more important as the usage of the 3D printing increases. However, the precision of the 3D printing is still low due to limitations of manufacturing methods. Especially, the surface roughness and quality are inconsistent. While the post-treatment is necessary, there are no systematic post-treatment methods. Thus, using the laser for the post-treatment of 3D printing would be a good option because it has many advantages for precision engineering. To be used for the post-treatment process, it is essential to understand the interaction characteristics between the laser and the 3D printing materials. Therefore, this study uses an UV pulsed laser and the acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS), which is the most popular material for 3D printing, to understand the interaction characteristics. Furthermore, the effect of surface roughness on the interaction characteristics is also studied. The ABS specimens are prepared by an acetone fumigation technique and CNC milling. The laser is applied by varing laser pulse energy (50-340 μJ) on the ABS specimens. As the surface roughness decreases, it is confirmed that laser and ABS interaction have a certain pattern. For the specimen prepared by the acetone fumigation technique, Heat Affected Zone decreases with decreasing the laser pulse energy. The specimen prepared by end milling requires higher laser ablation threshold.

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