Int. J. Computational Materials Science and Surface Engineering, Vol. 9, No. 1, 2020 1 Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Selection of process parameters of AISI 304 for laser processing of materials Paramasivan Kalvettukaran* School of Laser Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India Email: parma.gce@gmail.com *Corresponding author Sandip Das Department of Mechanical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India Email: sdas@mech.jdvu.ac.in Sundar Marimuthu The Manufacturing Technology Centre, Coventry CV7 9JU, UK Email: marimuthusundar@gmail.com Dipten Misra School of Laser Science and Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata 700032, India Email: dipten@gmail.com Abstract: This paper describes numerical simulation of laser processing of AISI 304 sheet metal and statistical analysis to develop mathematical relations for determination of the limiting values of the process parameters such that the material temperature remains above or below the specified maximum temperature, depending upon the specific requirement. The simulations layout is designed based on a central composite design (CCD) with four factors and five levels. The simulations are carried out through finite element package COMSOL MULTIPHYSICS®. Based on the simulation output, a regression equation is developed to estimate the maximum temperature as a function of the laser process parameters and sheet thickness. Once the regression equation is obtained, the same is recast to obtain limiting values of process parameters that may be applied such that the maximum temperature exceeds or remains below a specified maximum temperature or the melting temperature of the specimen. Keywords: laser material processing; numerical simulation; regression equation; solidus temperature; liquidus temperature.