Laser cutting technology uses the energy released when a laser beam is shone onto the surface of a steel plate to melt and vaporize stainless steel. The laser source typically uses a carbon dioxide laser beam with an operating power of 500 to 2500 watts. This power level is lower than that required by many household electric heaters, but through lenses and mirrors, the laser beam is focused on a very small area. The high concentration of energy allows for rapid local heating, causing the stainless steel to evaporate. Additionally, due to the highly concentrated energy, only a small amount of heat is transferred to other parts of the steel, resulting in minimal or no deformation. Using lasers, complex-shaped blanks can be cut very accurately, and the cut blanks do not require further processing.
The advantages of using CO2 laser cutting technology in laser cutting machines are as follows:
(1) Good cutting quality. The cut width is narrow (usually 0.1-0.5mm), the precision is high (the error of the hole center distance is usually 0.1-0.4mm, and the contour size error is 0.1-0.5mm), the surface roughness of the cut is good (Ra is generally 12.5-25μm), and the cut seam generally does not need further processing before welding.
(2) Fast cutting speed. For example, with 2KW laser power, the cutting speed of 8mm thick carbon steel is 1.6m/min; the cutting speed of 2mm thick stainless steel is 3.5m/min. The heat-affected zone is small, and the deformation is extremely minimal.
(3) Clean, safe, and pollution-free. It greatly improves the working environment for operators. Of course, in terms of precision and surface roughness of the cut, CO2 laser cutting cannot surpass electrical discharge machining (EDM); in terms of cutting thickness, it is difficult to match flame and plasma cutting. However, with these significant advantages, it is evident that CO2 laser cutting has already replaced some traditional cutting methods, especially for the cutting of various non-metallic materials. It is a rapidly developing and increasingly widely applied advanced processing method.