Why lasers are used for cutting
How Does Laser Cutting Machine Work?
Lasers are used for many purposes. One way they are used is for cutting metal layers. On mild steel, stainless steel, and light weight aluminum plate, the laser cutting process is highly accurate, yields excellent cut quality, has an extremely small kerf size and small heat affect area, and makes it feasible to cut very elaborate forms and small openings.
Most individuals currently know that words “LASER” is actually an acronym for Light Boosting by Stimulated Discharge of Radiation. But how does light puncture a steel plate?
How a laser cutting machine works
The laser beam is a column of very high strength light, of a solitary wavelength, or color. When it comes to a common CO2 laser, that wavelength remains in the Infra-Red component of the light range, so it’s invisible to the human eye. The beam is just about 3/4 of an inch in size as it travels from the laser resonator, which produces the beam, through the machine’s beam course. It may be jumped in various instructions by a variety of mirrors, or “beam benders”, before it’s finally concentrated into the plate. The concentrated laser beam undergoes the birthed of a nozzle right before it strikes the plate. Also streaming through that nozzle birthed is a pressed gas, such as Oxygen or Nitrogen.
Concentrating the laser beam can be done by an unique lens, or by a rounded mirror, and this occurs in the laser cutting going. The beam needs to be exactly concentrated so that the form of the focus spot and the density of the power because spot are perfectly rounded and consistent, and focused in the nozzle. By concentrating the large beam to a solitary identify, the heat density at that spot is severe. Consider using a amplifying glass to focus the sun’s rays into a fallen leave, and how that can begin a terminate. Currently consider concentrating 6 KWatts of power right into a solitary spot, and you can imagine how warm that spot will obtain.
The high power density outcomes in fast heating, thawing and partial or complete vaporizing of the material. When cutting mild steel, the heat of the laser beam suffices to begin a common “oxy-fuel” shedding process, and the laser cutting gas will be pure oxygen, much like an oxy-fuel lantern. When cutting stainless steel or light weight aluminum, the laser beam simply melts the material, and high stress nitrogen is used to strike the molten metal from the kerf.
On a CNC laser cutter, the laser cutting going is removaled over the metal plate in the form of the preferred component, thus cutting the component from the plate. A capacitive elevation control system preserves an extremely accurate range in between completion of the nozzle and the plate that has been cut. This range is important, because it determines where the focal point is about the surface of the plate. Cut quality can be affected by increasing or reducing the focal point from simply over the surface of the plate, at the surface, or simply listed below the surface.
There are many, many various other specifications that affect cut quality as well, but when all are controlled properly, laser cutting is a steady, dependable, and very accurate cutting process.
The following is a comprehensive evaluation of various cutting processes:
1) Laser vaporization cutting
Vaporization Laser Cutting Machine, Using high power density laser beam to heat the workpiece, the workpiece temperature level increases quickly, in an extremely brief time to get to the steaming point of the material.The issue starts to vaporize, developing heavy vapor.The heavy vapor fired out at such a high speed that it made a cut in the material.The heat of vaporization of materials is typically huge, so laser vaporization cutting requires a large power and power density.Laser vaporization cutting is mainly used for cutting incredibly slim metal materials and non-metallic materials.
2) Laser thawing
Thawing Laser Cutting Machine, While laser thawing and cutting, the metal material is melted by laser heating, and after that non-oxidizing gas (Ar, He, N, and so on.) is expelled through the nozzle coaxial with the beam, and the fluid metal is discharged under the solid stress of the gas to form an incision. Laser thawing and cutting doesn’t require complete vaporization of the metal, but just 1/10 of the power of vaporization of the cutting. Laser combination cutting is mainly used for the cutting of some non-oxidizing materials or energetic steels, such as stainless steel, titanium, light weight aluminum and their alloys.
3) Laser oxygen cutting
Oxygen Laser Cutting Machine, Concept of laser oxygen cutting resembles oxyacetylene cutting.It USES laser as the preheating heat resource, oxygen and various other energetic gases as cutting gas.On the one hand, the expelled gas interacts with the cutting metal, creating an oxidation response that launches a large quantity of oxidizing heat.On the various other hand, molten oxide and molten material are blown from the response area, producing incisions in the metal.Because the oxidation response creates a great deal of heat in the cutting process, the power required by laser oxygen cutting is just 1/2 of that required by thawing cutting, and the cutting speed is much higher than that of laser vaporization cutting and thawing cutting.Laser oxygen cutting is mainly used for carbon steel, titanium steel, heat therapy steel and various other easily oxidized metal materials.
4) Laser scanning and managing fracture
Laser scanning is used to check the surface of fragile material with high power density laser, which makes the material vaporize right into groove after heating. A specific quantity of stress is after that used and the fragile material will break along the slit. Q – changed laser and CO2 laser are typically used for laser noting.Fracture control is to earn use the high temperature level circulation produced by laser grooving to produce local thermal stress in fragile materials so that the materials fracture along the grooving.