After 20 years of development, according to different laser generators, 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 characteristics of the three laser cutting machines are as follows:
1: CO2 laser cutting machine
The CO2 laser cutting machine can stably cut within carbon steel, within stainless steel, and below 8mm. aluminum alloy. The wavelength of CO2 laser is 10, 6um, which is easily absorbed by non-metal. It can cut wood, acrylic, PP, plexiglass and other non-metallic 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 spraying oxygen, compressed air or inert gas N2 at the beam exit to increase the cutting speed and the smoothness of the cut. In order to improve the stability and life of the power supply, the discharge stability of high-power lasers should be solved for CO2 gas lasers. According to international safety standards, laser hazard levels are divided into 4 levels, and CO2 lasers belong to the least harmful level.
Main advantages: high power, generally between -, can cut full-size stainless steel, carbon steel and other conventional materials within 25mm, and can also cut aluminum plates, acrylic plates, wood material plates, PVC plates, and thin plates within 4mm high speed. In addition, because the output of the CO2 laser is a continuous laser, it has the smoothest and best cutting effect among the three laser cutting machines.
Market positioning: 6-25mm medium and thick plate cutting, mainly for large and medium-sized enterprises and some laser cutting processing enterprises purely for external processing. In recent years, due to the huge impact of fiber laser cutting machines, the market has shrunk significantly.
2: YAG (solid) laser cutting machine
YAG solid-state laser cutting machine has the characteristics of low price and good stability, but the energy efficiency is generally lower than 3%, and the products with large current output power are mostly below. Due to the small output energy, it is mainly used for punching, spot welding and thin plate cutting. Its green laser beam can be applied in pulsed or continuous wave situations. Short wavelength, good light concentrating. Suitable for precision machining, especially hole machining under pulse. This is the most effective. Can also be used for cutting, welding and photolithography. The laser wavelength of YAG solid-state laser cutting machine is not easy to be absorbed by non-metal, and it cannot cut non-metallic materials. YAG solid-state laser cutting machine needs to solve the problem of improving stability and the life of the power supply, that is, to develop a large-capacity, long-life optical pump excitation light source. Such as the use of semiconductor light pump, can greatly improve energy efficiency.
Main advantages: It can cut aluminum plates, copper plates and most non-ferrous metal materials that cannot be cut by other laser cutting machines. The machine is cheap, low usage and easy to maintain. Most of the key technologies have been mastered by domestic enterprises. The price of accessories and maintenance cost are low, the operation and maintenance of the machine are simple, and the quality of workers is not high.
Market positioning: Cutting below 8mm, mainly for self-use small and medium-sized enterprises and most users in industries with low processing requirements such as sheet metal manufacturing, home appliance manufacturing, kitchen utensils manufacturing, decoration, advertising, etc., gradually replacing wire cutting, CNC punching, water cutting , low-power plasma and other traditional processing equipment
3: fiber laser cutting machine
Fiber laser cutting machine can be transmitted through optical fiber, has high flexibility, few fault points, convenient maintenance and extremely fast speed, so fiber laser cutting machine has great advantages when cutting thin plates within 4mm, but when cutting thick plates, due to Wavelength issues with solid, poor quality lasers. The fiber laser cutting machine has a wavelength of 1 and is not easily absorbed by non-metal, so it cannot cut non-metal materials. The photoelectric conversion rate of fiber lasers is as high as 25%, and fiber lasers have obvious advantages in terms of power consumption and supporting cooling systems. According to international safety standards, the laser hazard level is divided into 4 levels. Fiber lasers are the most harmful to the human body due to their short wavelength, as they are harmful to the eyes. For safety reasons, fiber laser processing requires a fully enclosed environment. As an emerging laser technology, fiber laser cutting machines are far less popular than CO2 laser cutting machines.
Main advantages: high photoelectric conversion rate, low power consumption, can cut stainless steel plate and carbon steel plate. It is expected that with the emergence of the above lasers, fiber laser cutting machines will eventually replace most of the market for CO2 high-power laser cutting machines.
After nearly 20 years of continuous technological updating and process development at home and abroad, the laser cutting process and laser cutting machine equipment are being familiar and accepted by the majority of sheet metal processing enterprises, and are known for their high processing efficiency and large processing volume. Precision and good cut section quality. It can carry out many advantages such as three-dimensional cutting and processing, and gradually replace traditional sheet metal processing methods such as plasma cutting, water cutting, flame cutting, and CNC punching.
