Mechanism of dross formation in laser cutting

In reactive gas assisted laser cutting using an infrared laser, molten metal is simultaneously ejected from the groove, because of the action of the physical kinetic energy of gas jet. When cutting speed is not optimised, dross was occur in the bottom of cutting groove. The cutting phenomenon is made more complex because it involves this interaction of laser beam and material, behaviour of the assist gas and chemical reaction such as the oxidation and exothermal reaction. Therefore the phenomenon of cutting process is still not clear. This paper based on knowledge derived from our continuous research up to now and try to describe in more detail the mechanism of dross formation in laser cutting using the theoretical calculation and computer simulation.