Abstract
Cutting of austenitic stainless steel of 0.5mm and 2mm thickness with CO2 laser has been carried out using oxygen, nitrogen and compressed air as assist gases. It has been observed that when oxygen is used as assist gas, the contribution of combustion energy was found to be 60 to 80 % more as compared to the other two types of assist gases. The cutting speed for 0.5 mm sheet was about 11 times where as for 2 mm stainless steel it was around 16 times. The role of combustion energy were theoretically calculated and compared with experimental results and found to be in good agreement.