Laser assisted machining of commercially pure titanium

Laser assisted machining (LAM) has been performed on commercially pure titanium bar. Cutting forces have been measured with a 3-component force sensor. Both the scale and fluctuation of cutting forces were dramatically reduced, and the machined surface was smoother after laser assisted turning. The effects of laser power, laser spot size, tool-beam distance and cutting speed on the reduction of cutting forces have been investigated and the change in chip formation during LAM is reported. The reduction of cutting forces primarily depends on the tool-beam distance and cutting speed. With increasing cutting speed, the segmented chips become sharper in the conventional machining compared to the change observed in LAM. Deformation twins were observed in the machined sub-surface under both conventional cutting and LAM, however, the twins in conventionally machined sub-surface were finer and more dense.