General Electric Company

Donald G Flom

Marshall Gordon Jones

Minyoung Lee

Robert A Thompson

Ranga Komanduri

Louis E Hibbs, Jr

Robert J Douglas

An improved laser-assisted machining process has special application to difficult-to-machine materials such as the titanium alloys and high temperature superalloys. A layer of material to be removed by a cutting tool is made weaker by drilling a series of holes using a pulse laser beam ahead of the cutting process so that the tool removes the rest of the weaker material with relative ease. There is a decrease of cutting forces, breakage of the chip to a manageable size, and reduced tool wear.

Pulse laser pretreated machining

A method to reduce the growth rate of localized tool wear at the depth-of-cut line by the enrichment of the cutting zone atmosphere with gaseous oxygen.

Oxygen assisted machining

Growing community of inventors

Scotia, NY, United States of America

Donald G Flom