Investigation of the effects of plasma arc parameters on the structure variation of AISI 304 and St 52 steels

In this study, AISI 304 stainless steel and St 52 carbon steel have been cut by plasma arc and the variations of structural specifications occurred after cutting has been investigated. According to the experimental results, it has been seen that burning of particulars and distribution amount were increased when the cutting was performed using the speeds which are upper or lower limits of the ideal cutting speeds proposed by the manufacturer of the machine tool. Moreover, it was determined that the hardness from the outer surface to the core decreased, while the hardness near to the outer surface which affected by the high temperature occurred during cutting increased.