Rachna David
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Integral University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Prem Kumar Bharti
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Integral University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Sanjay Agarwal
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Bundelkhand Institute of Engineering and Technology, Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Syed Asghar Husain Rizvi
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti Language University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.

DOI https://doi.org/10.33889/PMSL.2026.5.2.013

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Abstract

The present investigation is planned to evaluate the kerf width during the machining of Inconel 718 using the laser beam technique. Laser beam machining is a non-traditional material removal process used to machine complex and intricate shapes with high accuracy. A laser beam with a diameter of 0.2 mm was focused on the work material for machining. Response surface technique was employed for designing the trials. The power of the laser, the pressure of gas, and the frequency of the pulse were chosen as the machine variables. Post machining, the specimens were kept under scanning electron microscopy to measure the kerf induced during the operation. The kerf ranged between 0.21 mm to 0.39 mm for the present set of trials. From the analysis, it is revealed that laser power imparts major impact over the kerf width, following to it is frequency of the pulse. The kerf was observed to follow an increasing trend with both these parameters. Gas pressure was observed to be an insignificant variable for the performance measure. The value of residual error of 1.17% during model validation indicates that the developed model is accurate.

Keywords- LBM, Inconel 718, Kerf width, SEM.

Citation

David, R., Bharti, P. K. Agarwal, S., & Rizvi, S. A. H. (2026). Assessment of Kerf Width During Laser Beam Machining of Inconel 718. Prabha Materials Science Letters, (2), 244-257. https://doi.org/10.33889/PMSL.2026.5.2.013.