Investigation of the effects of plasma arc parameters on the machining of different engineering materials

Abstract

Advance machining such as Plasma Arc Cutting machine to cut common engineering material was very limited in the industry. The main problem was due to little knowledge and experiences to handle the machine and also less exposure regarding advance material cutting. The author used Selco Genesis 90 Plasma Arc Cutting machine to cut Stainless Steels (3 and 6 mm), Aluminums (3 and 6 mm) and Mild Steels (3 and 6 mm) in this study. The usage of Taguchi approach Design of Experiments from the designing steps until the analyzing phase from the experiment was used with Design of Experiment L-9 layout as preferences. Parameters determined by the author were the Air Pressure [bar], Current Flow Rate [A], Cutting Speed [mm/min] and Arc Gap [mm]. These parameters used to analyze the setting required for optimizing the process variables for Plasma Arc Cutting machine to gain the best combination. The effects of these factors were the calculation of Material Removal Rate (MRR), and Surface Roughness (Ra).