Characteristics and advantages of three types of laser cutting machines
In recent years, laser technology has developed rapidly and has become the mainstream cutting technology. In industrial production, laser cutting accounts for more than 70% of laser processing, and is the most important application technology in the laser processing industry. With the improvement of processing accuracy requirements and the rise of raw material prices worldwide, low consumption, high efficiency and high precision laser equipment has become the focus of attention.
According to the different laser generators, the current laser cutting machines on the market can be roughly divided into three types: CO2 laser cutting machines, YAG (solid) laser cutting machines and fiber laser cutting machines.
The first type: CO2 laser cutting machine CO2 laser cutting machine can stably cut carbon steel within 20mm, stainless steel within 10mm, and aluminum alloy within 8mm. The wavelength of CO2 laser is 10.6 um, which is easily absorbed by nonmetals. It can cut wood, acrylic, PP, plexiglass and other nonmetallic materials with high quality, but the photoelectric conversion rate of CO2 laser is only about 10%. The CO2 laser cutting machine is equipped with a nozzle for blowing oxygen, compressed air or inert gas N2 at the beam outlet to improve the cutting speed and smooth cutting. In order to improve the stability and life of the power supply, CO2 gas lasers must solve the problem of discharge stability of high-power lasers. According to the international safety standards, the laser hazard is divided into four levels, and the CO2 laser hazard is the smallest.
Main advantages: large power, generally between 2000W-4000W, capable of cutting full-size stainless steel, carbon steel and other conventional materials within 25 mm, as well as aluminum plate within 4 mm and acrylic plate, wood material plate and PVC plate within 60 mm. The cutting speed is very fast. In addition, because the output of CO2 laser is continuous laser, it has the smoothest and best cutting effect among the three laser cutting machines.
Main market positioning: 6-25mm medium and thick plate cutting and processing, mainly for large and medium-sized enterprises and some laser cutting and processing enterprises purely for external processing. Later, under the huge impact of fiber laser cutting machine, the market was in a state of obvious shrinkage.
Class II: YAG (solid state) laser cutting machine YAG solid state laser cutting machine has the characteristics of low price and good stability, but its energy efficiency is general, and the output power of most products is below 600W. Due to small output energy, it is mainly used for drilling and spot welding of thin plates. Its green laser beam can be applied in the case of pulse or continuous wave. Short wavelength, good light concentration. It is suitable for precision machining, especially hole machining under pulse. It can also be used for cutting, welding and photolithography. The laser wavelength of YAG solid laser cutting machine is not easy to be absorbed by nonmetals, so it cannot cut nonmetallic materials. The problem that YAG solid laser cutting machine needs to solve is to improve the stability and life of the power supply, that is, to develop a large-capacity and long-life optical pump. Excitation light source, such as semiconductor light pump, can greatly improve energy efficiency.
Main advantages: it can cut most nonferrous metal materials that cannot be cut by other laser cutting machines, such as aluminum plate and copper plate. The purchase price of the machine is cheap, the use cost is low, and the maintenance is simple. Most key technologies have been mastered by domestic enterprises. The price and maintenance cost of accessories are low, and the operation and maintenance of the machine is simple, and the requirements for the quality of workers are not high.
Main market positioning: cutting less than 8mm is mainly used for the self-use of small and medium-sized enterprises and most of the sheet metal manufacturing. Users in industries such as home appliance manufacturing, kitchenware manufacturing, decoration, advertising and other industries that do not have special processing requirements will gradually replace traditional processing equipment such as wire cutting, CNC punch, water cutting, low-power plasma and so on.
The third type: optical fiber laser cutting machine. Because it can be transmitted through optical fiber, its flexibility has been improved unprecedentedly, its failure points are few, its maintenance is convenient, and its speed is extremely fast, so the optical fiber laser cutting machine has great advantages in cutting thin plates within 4mm. Advantages, but due to the influence of the wavelength of solid laser, the quality is poor when cutting thick plates. The wavelength of the optical fiber laser cutting machine is 1.06um, which is not easy to be absorbed by nonmetals, so it cannot cut nonmetallic materials. The photoelectric conversion rate of fiber laser is as high as 25%. In terms of power consumption and supporting cooling system, the advantages of fiber laser are quite obvious. According to the international safety standards, the laser hazard level is divided into four levels. Fiber laser is the most harmful class, because its wavelength is very short, which is harmful to human body and eyes. For safety reasons, fiber laser processing needs a totally closed environment. As a new laser technology, fiber laser cutting machine is far less popular than CO2 laser cutting machine.
Main advantages: high photoelectric conversion rate, low power consumption, capable of cutting stainless steel plate and carbon steel plate within 12MM. It is the laser cutting machine with the fastest cutting speed among the three machines. cutting
Main market positioning: cutting less than 12 mm, especially high-precision sheet metal processing, mainly aimed at manufacturers’ high requirements for processing accuracy and efficiency. It is estimated that with the emergence of more than 4000 W laser, the fiber laser cutting machine will eventually replace the CO2 high-power laser and become the main market of the cutting machine.
Laser cutting machine is a new type of sheet metal processing equipment that appeared at the end of last century and the beginning of this century. After nearly 20 years of continuous technological innovation and technological development at home and abroad, laser cutting technology and laser cutting machine equipment are being familiar and accepted by the majority of sheet metal processing enterprises, and are famous for high processing efficiency, high processing accuracy and good cutting section quality. Many advantages such as 3D cutting have gradually replaced the traditional sheet metal processing methods such as plasma cutting, water cutting, flame cutting, CNC punching, etc.