Modeling of the front of melting and destruction of a melt film during gas-laser cutting of metals

The products of laser cutting of metals on an automated laser setup are investigated. Results of model experiments are presented, where soft wax was used instead of metal transforming into the melt; soft wax filled a narrow flat slot between two glass plates and was removed by a heated air stream. The physical processes of melting of the liquid-wax film, its destruction, and entrainment by the gas jet being assumed to be analogous to the processes of metal-melt spraying inside the cut in full-scale experiments, the characteristic size of drops formed thereby is evaluated. The modeling results are in qualitative agreement with the results of full-scale experiments. It is shown that the quality of laser cutting of metals directly depends on the character of spraying of the liquid melt and the process of its removal.