www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION OF PLASMA ARC CUTTING FOR STAINLESS STEEL SHEET A PARTHIBAN 1 , J. P. PRASATH 2 , P. VIVEK 3 & R. PUGAZHENTHI 4 1,4 Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels university, Chennai 2 Student, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels university, Chennai 3 Assistant professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, Vels university, Chennai ABSTRACT The Plasma arc machining process is the non conventional thermal process which is applicable to perform various operations such as cutting, welding, coating etc. In recent years, considerable experimental investigations have been carried out aiming at improving plasma cutting process performance. In this work, plasma cutting parameters on stainless steel 316L width 2 mm thickness were studied. The cut quality depends on appropriate selection process parameters and it was investigated. The parameters considered include plasma arc current, cutting speed and stand of distance. The effect of cutting parameter on the cut quality was further investigated by monitoring top kerf width, bottom kerf width and kerf taper using full factorial design and finally to find best optimum cutting parameters. KEYWORDS: Plasma Cutting, Stainless Steel 316L, Kerf Width, DOE & ANOVA Received: Dec 07, 2017; Accepted: Dec 27, 2017; Published: Jan 31, 2018; Paper Id.: IJMPERDFEB2018110 1. INTRODUCTION Plasma cutting process mostly used in wide range of fabrication industries, in this work to cutting of stainless steel sheet (316 L) for plasma arc cutting machine and Stainless steel sheet exceptionally hard to slice to generation of complex shapes and many-sided profiles with stringent outline necessities. Plasma cutting is to thermal based process to melt and vaporize the base material [1]. There are some researchers to conclude the different speed to produce the same effect on cutting quality [2]. Plasma Current, Cutting speed and Stand of distance are very important significant factors to affect the plasma cutting process [3]. The stainless steel sheet cutting of complex shape by using plasma cutting process is very important to maintain the cut edge quality. Ketul Patel and Pallavi Agarwal [4] studied the effect of process parameters on cutting speed, arc ampere, torch standoff distance and pierce height on bevel angle. J. Kechagias et.al [5] analyzed stainless steel material cutting using plasma arc cutting by using DOE approach and concluded that roughness can be reduced by minimum the cutting speed. S.V.Srinivasa Raju et.al [6] discussed hybridation of response surface methodology and grey relational analysis and evaluation on the effect of machining parameters current, cutting speed and torch height on the kerf width deviation. 2. MATERIAL AND METHODS 2.1. Experimental Equipment The experiments were conducted in micro step plasma arc cutting machine as shown in figure 1 and specification of plasma arc cutting machine are following table 1. Original Article International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN (P): 2249-6890; ISSN (E): 2321-8001 Vol. 8, Issue 1, Feb 2018, 907-914 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd