Analysis of the heat affected zone in plasma jet cutting process of the aluminium alloy EN AW 5083

Plasma jet cutting process is a well-known nonconventional thermo-electrical manufacturing process that is widely used in metal and shipbuilding industry. It uses the energy of highly ionized gas to cut various types of metal materials. Cutting process is determined by technological parameters whose values define the final cut quality results. Cut quality can be defined considering different characteristics such as: kerf width, bevel angle, surface roughness, dross height and heat affected zone. In this paper, a research on the influence of variable process parameters on the heat affected zone (HAZ) was conducted. An investigated material was aluminium alloy EN AW 5083. HAZ analysis was done by measuring hardness changes on the specimen cross sections and by microscopic observation of the material structure.