Title:

Hypertherm Plasma Arc Cutting Experimental Setup & Analyses

Hypertherm Inc, based in Hanover, New Hampshire, specializes in designing advanced cutting solutions, with their central product line pertaining to Plasma Arc Cutting (PAC). Hypertherm is interested in understanding and controlling the chemistry changes that occur at the plasma arc cut surface, because little to no research has been done on characterizing automated cutting. Partnering with the University of New Hampshire, through an NHIRC funded research, this project exposes Hypertherm to the resources at the University Instrumentation Center along with the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center to help answer their questions regarding plasma arc cut parameters. To facilitate robot plasma cutting in various orientations, Hypertherm and the John Olson Advanced Manufacturing Center requested that a fixture be designed and built so that steel beams and plates could be secured in a way that allows the Kuka robotic arm to manipulate a PAC torch with 360 degree cut access around the workpiece. Various automated cuts were performed at different orientations. These samples were analyzed for surface roughness and elemental analysis to determine trends.

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