Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology

ISSN: 0022-3131 (Print) 1881-1248 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tnst20

Laser cutting of thick steel plates and simulated

steel components using a 30 kW fiber laser

Koji Tamura, Ryoya Ishigami & Ryuichiro Yamagishi

To cite this article: Koji Tamura, Ryoya Ishigami & Ryuichiro Yamagishi (2015): Laser cutting of
thick steel plates and simulated steel components using a 30 kW fiber laser, Journal of Nuclear
Science and Technology, DOI: 10.1080/00223131.2015.1080633

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2015.1080633

Published online: 11 Sep 2015.

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Download by: [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] Date: 13 September 2015, At: 22:19
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology, 2015
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223131.2015.1080633

ARTICLE

Laser cutting of thick steel plates and simulated steel components using a 30 kW fiber laser
∗†
Koji Tamura , Ryoya Ishigami and Ryuichiro Yamagishi
Department of Research and Development, The Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center, 64-52-1 Nagatani, Tsuruga city,
Fukui prefecture, 914-0192, Japan
(Received 30 June 2015; accepted final version for publication 3 August 2015)
Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 22:19 13 September 2015

Laser cutting of thick steel plates and simulated steel components using a 30 kW fiber laser was studied
for application to nuclear decommissioning. Successful cutting of carbon steel and stainless steel plates
up to 300 mm in thickness was demonstrated, as was that of thick steel components such as simulated
reactor vessel walls, a large pipe, and a gate valve. The results indicate that laser cutting applied to nuclear
decommissioning is a promising technology.
Keywords: laser cutting; fiber laser; decommissioning; stainless steel; carbon steel

1. Introduction 2. Experimental procedure

Laser cutting is highly efficient, low-maintenance,
safe, and remote controllable technology that features
a low amount of secondary waste, low running cost,
and few repair parts. Recent improvements in the per-
formance of fiber lasers as a laser source include high
output power, beam quality, and reliability. Therefore,
laser technology is a promising dismantlement method
for nuclear decommissioning [1,2] among other conven-
tional technologies such as mechanical cutting, plasma
arc cutting,[3] and abrasive water jet cutting.[4]
Cutting technology for steel plates up to approxi-
mately 50 mm thick using a 10 kW fiber laser has been
developed at the Wakasa Wan Energy Research Center
(WERC). However, considering its applications to the
dismantlement of nuclear power plants that contain steel
components more than 100 mm thick, cutting technol-
ogy for thicker steel components is desirable. Based on
recent advancements in high-power fiber lasers, increas-
ing the incident laser power applied to the workpiece
may be an appropriate alternative.
In this study, the cutting conditions of thick steel
plates as well as simulated structural objects with thick
steel plates of a power plant using a 30 kW fiber laser
were examined for the application of laser cutting tech-
nology to nuclear decommissioning. The conditions re-
quired for cutting 300 mm steel plates were investigated
because the thickness of most of the reactor internal
steel components is within this value.
Figure 1 shows the experimental setup for the laser
cutting. A high-power fiber laser (IPG YLS-30000) was
used as the laser source. By combining outputs from the
modules, a maximum output power of 30 kW was avail-
able. The central laser wavelength was 1070–1080 nm
with typical line width of 3 nm. The beam-parameter
product at the entrance and the exit of the fiber coupler
was 4.0 and 10.0 mm∗ mrad, respectively. The laser out-
put had top-hat beam profile. Cutting was performed at
a continuous wave operational mode. The laser output
was delivered to the laser head by a process fiber 20 m
long with a core diameter of 0.3 mm, collimated with
a pair of lens with fc = 600 mm, and irradiated to the
workpiece surface. The focal position was 12 mm out-
side of the nozzle tip.
Workpiece specimens were set in a holder for cut-
ting. Cutting began at the edge of the specimens and was
aided by moving the holder with a linear translator. The
penetrated laser and the sputtered metal particles were
blocked using a wall of refractory bricks. Assist gas used
to blow off the molten metal was collinearly injected to
the workpiece through a nozzle similar to a Laval nozzle
at the tip of the laser head. In these experiments, air was
used as the assist gas with a supply pressure of approxi-
mately 1 MPa. The cutting processes were monitored by
a video camera (JVC, GZ-E565) using an infrared cut-
off filter.

∗
Corresponding author. Email: tamura.koji@jaea.go.jp
†
Present address: Quantum Beam Science Center, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2-4 Shirane, Shirakata, Tokai-mura, Naka-gun,
Ibaraki 319-1195, Japan.


C 2015 Atomic Energy Society of Japan. All rights reserved.
 2 K. Tamura et al.

Figure 1. Experimental setup.

The cutting conditions required for the nine speci-

mens of this study are summarized in Table 1. For spec-
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imens 1–4, stainless steel (SUS304) and carbon steel

(SM490A) blocks were examined. The block size was
70 × 50 × t mm3 , where t is the thickness. The maxi-
mum thickness of the tested blocks was 300 mm for both
types of steel.
Specimen 5, a carbon-steel specimen 200 mm long, Figure 2. Top view of setup for oblique incident angle
was fixed at an incident angle of 37◦ , and the laser and cutting.
the assist gas to the workpiece was applied obliquely.
Figure 2 shows the top view of the cutting setup. The
specimen was transferred linearly while the laser beam
was irradiated.
For specimens 6 and 7, two different composite parts
were put together as simulated clad plates used in a
pressure vessel wall. In this experiment, stainless-steel
(SUS304) and carbon-steel (SM490A) plates were used
as easily available simulants. The two types of steel used
for each of these specimens were assumed to simulate
the pressure vessel of the boiling water reactor (BWR;
specimen 6) and pressurized water reactor (PWR;
Figure 3. Composition of simulated large pipe (a), (b) ar-
specimen 7). The thicknesses of the stainless steel plates rangement of plates as a projection of large pipe structure, and
and carbon steel plates were 9 and 170 mm for specimen (c) appearance of the prepared specimen 8.
6 and 6 and 290 mm for specimen 7, respectively. Both
plates were secured with tight bolted rather than being
cladded. In this setup, the side faces of both metals were of a large pipe corresponding to 350 A (Sch 160)
cut simultaneously by the laser irradiation. with an outer diameter of 355.6 mm and thickness of
For specimen 8, a simulated pipe was tested. 35.6 mm as shown in Figure 3(a) were assumed to
Figure 3 shows a composition of the simulant. Parts be compactly aligned using plates with approximately

Table 1. Summary of cutting conditions for specimens 1–9.

Workpiece Thickness Power Flow rate Stand-off Speed

No. (mm) Material (kW) (l/min) (mm) (mm/min)

1 230 SM490A 30 514 60 8

2 300 SM490A 30 1000 20 8
3 230 SUS304 30 750 60 10
4 300 SUS304 30 840 60 8
5 SM490A 30 470 88–125 20
6 9 + 170 SUS304, SM490A 30 700 20 12
7 6 + 290 SUS304, SM490A 30 1080 20 8
8 SM490A 30 1000 60 23 (B), 34 (A, C)
9 FC200 30 404 >35 8
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology 3

equivalent thickness and distance from the laser head

tip. Plates of carbon steel with 36 mm thickness were po-
sitioned as specimen 8 as shown in Figure 3(b), where
plates A and C (70 × 36 mm2 ) set 360 mm apart corre-
sponded to the front and the rear parts of the pipe, and
plate B (36 × 100 mm2 ) corresponded to the side part
of the pipe wall with an approximately equivalent max-
imum cutting length. The cutting speed was 23 mm/min
when cutting part B and 34 mm/min when cutting parts
A and C, which varied according to the total thickness
of the workpiece to reduce the transmitted laser intensity
and subsequent damages to the wall.
For specimen 9, a commercial gate valve (KITZ,
5FCM-100A) was set under the specimen holder and
was examined. Figure 5. Observation of the side faces of stainless steel
blocks after cutting for specimens (a) 3 and (b) 4; (c) front and
Downloaded by [University of Nebraska, Lincoln] at 22:19 13 September 2015

(d) rear face of specimen 4.

3. Results and discussion
3.1. Carbon steel plates
The conditions required for cutting the thick carbon-
steel plates are discussed in this section. Figure 4 shows
the side views of carbon steel specimens 1(a) and 2(b)
and the front (c) and rear (d) view of specimen 2 after
cutting. The thickness was 230 mm for specimen 1(a)
and 300 mm for specimen 2(b)–2(d). By applying the cut-
ting conditions summarized in Table 1, successful cut-
ting of carbon steel plates up to 300 mm was observed.
The kerf widths at the front and the rear faces were ap-
proximately 6 and 9 mm for specimen 1 and 0.8 and 8
mm for specimen 2, respectively.
3.2. Stainless steel plates
The cutting conditions for thick stainless steel plates
were also investigated. Figure 5 shows the side views of
specimens 3(a) and 4(b) and the front (c) and the rear
(d) views of the specimen 4 after cutting. The thickness
was 230 mm for specimen 3 and 300 mm for specimen 4.
Successful cutting of stainless steel plates up to 300 mm
was also achieved under these conditions. The observed
kerf widths at the front and the rear faces were approx-
imately 6 and 7 mm for specimen 3 and 5 and 8 mm for
specimen 4, respectively.
3.3. Oblique incident angle cutting
For the practical and flexible applications of laser
cutting technology to the target objects in various en-
vironments, cutting was examined in which the incident
angle of the laser beam as well as the assist gas to the
workpiece were considerably oblique. Figure 6 shows the
specimen after cutting. The kerf widths for the front and
the rear faces were approximately 5–7 and 7 mm, respec-
tively. Although the stand-off distance varied from ap-
proximately 125–88 mm as the cutting proceeded by the
linear translation of the specimen, successful cutting was
observed.

3.4. Simulated clad plate

The cutting of a composite component was exam-
ined. Specimens 6 and 7, in which two different com-
posite parts were put together, were also considered as
simulated clad plates used in a pressure vessel wall.
Figure 7 shows the side views of specimens 6(a) and
7(b) after cutting. The kerf widths for the front and the

Figure 4. Observation of the side faces of carbon steel blocks

after cutting for specimens (a) 1 and (b) 2; (c) front and (d) rear Figure 6. Observation of the front faces of carbon steel
face of specimen 2. blocks after oblique cutting for specimen 5.
 4 K. Tamura et al.
Figure 7. Observation of the side faces of blocks after cutting
for specimens (a) 6 and (b) 7.
rear faces were approximately 1 and 7 mm for specimen 6
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and 1 and 8 mm for specimen 7, respectively. The results
demonstrate successful laser cutting of two compos-
ite components simulating clad plates with a maximum
total thickness of approximately 300 mm.
3.5. Simulated large pipe
The application to plate cuttings was then extended
to structural objects. Although large pipes are used for
various parts in plants and its application is important,
a large pipe was not applicable in our experimental setup
because the specimen holder space in the linear transla-
tor was limited. Therefore, a simulated pipe was tested
instead as specimen 8 to represent the cutting of an ac-
tual pipe.
Figure 8 shows the side view of specimen 8 after cut-
ting. The approximate kerf widths for parts A, B, and
C were 5, 6–15, and 12–15 mm, respectively. Despite the
distance of approximately 384 mm from the nozzle tip to
the surface of the rear plate C, plate C was cut through
the narrow kerf width of plate A. Cutting through a nar-
row distant slit is, in general, difficult to achieve using
conventional methods. For plasma cutting, the plasma
potential for reaching the distant plate C might be low
because the near plate A is grounded. For mechani-
cal cutting, it may be difficult to approach and process
plate C through the narrow slit width of plate A. Both
faces of the simulated pipe, A and C, were cut by the
laser irradiation from one-directional irradiation on the
plate A side. This feature facilitates the approach of
the laser head to the target in an actual environment and
is one of the advantages of laser cutting technology when
applied to decommissioning.
Figure 8. Observation of the side faces of specimen 8.
Figure 9. Observation of (a) the cutting process and (b) the
side view after cutting of specimen 9.
3.6. Structural object
Next, to examine the applicability to the actual struc-
tural objects, the cutting of a commercial gate valve
(specimen 9) was examined. Figure 9 shows specimen
9 during (a) and after (b) cutting. Successful cutting
was observed, and the kerf widths at the front and the
rear faces of the valve flange were approximately 3 and
13 mm, respectively.
Laser cutting of steel components up to 300 mm in
thickness using a 30 kW fiber laser was successful. Be-
cause the thicknesses of most of the internal compo-
nents and vessel wall used in a nuclear reactor are within
this range, cutting conditions for steel components cor-
responding to the dismantlement of a reactor were ex-
amined. The results indicate that the dismantlement of
a reactor is possible using a high-power laser and that
laser cutting technology is quite promising for nuclear
decommissioning applications in association with devel-
opments made in remote cutting technology.
4. Conclusion
Laser cutting of thick steel plates and steel compo-
nents using a 30 kW fiber laser was studied for nuclear
decommissioning application. Successful cutting of
carbon steel and stainless steel plates up to 300 mm in
thickness was demonstrated, as was that of compo-
nents consisting of thick steel parts such as simulated
 Journal of Nuclear Science and Technology
clad plates, a simulated large pipe, and a commercial
gate valve. These results demonstrate that laser cut-
ting is promising technology applicable to future nuclear
decommissioning.
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Dr. E. J. Minehara, T. Shigeta,
Y. Shinoda, and Dr. S. Toyama of The Wakasa Wan Energy
Research Center for their supports in this study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the
authors.
ORCID
Koji Tamura http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7380-4446
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5
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