Laser cutting employs a powerful laser that is guided by computer numerical control (CNC) and optics to cut material. Usually, a motion control system is used in the process to adhere to a CNC or G-code of the design that needs to be cut onto the material. To leave a high-quality surface completed edge, the focussed laser beam burns, melts, vaporises, or is blasted away by a jet of gas.
By stimulating lasing materials with electrical discharges or lights inside a confined container, the laser beam is produced. The lasing material is internally reflected by a partial mirror and amplified until it has sufficient energy to escape as a stream of coherent monochromatic light. By using mirrors or fibre optics to route the light beam via a lens, which intensifies it, it is focused at the work area.
A laser beam's diameter at its narrowest point is typically less than 0.0125 inches (0.32 mm), however depending on the material thickness, kerf widths as thin as 0.004 inches (0.10 mm) are achievable.
A high power pulsed laser creates a hole in the material when the laser cutting process needs to begin somewhere other than the material's edge. For instance, it takes 5–15 seconds to burn through a 0.5-inch-thick (13 mm) stainless steel sheet.
Types of Laser Cutting
The kind of gas flow can also have an impact on laser performance. Fast axial flow, slow axial flow, transverse flow, and slab are typical CO2 laser variations. In fast axial flow, a turbine or blower circulates a mixture of carbon dioxide, helium, and nitrogen at a high speed. When compared to slab or diffusion resonators, which employ a static gas field and don't require pressurisation or glassware, transverse flow lasers use a straightforward blower to circulate the gas mixture at a lower velocity.
Depending on the size and architecture of the system, several cooling strategies are also employed for the laser generator and external optics. Although waste heat can be dissipated straight into the air, a coolant is usually employed. A widely used coolant is water.
A laser microjet system, which combines a pulsed laser beam with a low-pressure water jet to guide the beam similarly to an optical fibre, is one illustration of water cooled laser processing. High dicing rates, parallel kerf, and omnidirectional cutting are further benefits over 'dry' laser cutting, as is the ability to remove debris and cool the material.
In the metal cutting business, fibre lasers are likewise becoming more and more common. Instead of using a liquid or gas as the gain medium, this method uses a solid. It is useful for cutting reflective metals because the laser is amplified in a glass fibre to provide a much smaller spot size than is possible with CO2 techniques.
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