How Many Types of Laser Cutting Machine

According to the difference of laser generator, a laser cutting machine on the market can be divided into three kinds: CO2 laser cutting machine, YAG (solid) laser cutting machine, fiber laser cutting machine.

Fiber laser cutting machine

Optical fiber laser cutting machine can be transmitted through an optical fiber, the degree of flexibility has been improved unprecedentedly, the fault points are few, the maintenance is convenient, and the speed is extremely fast. Therefore, optical fiber cutting machine has great advantages in cutting thin plate within 4mm, but due to the influence of solid laser wavelength, it has poor quality in cutting thick plate.

The wavelength of the fiber laser cutting machine is 1.06 μ m, which is not easy to be absorbed by non-metal, so it can not cut non-metal materials. The photoelectric conversion rate of fiber laser is more than 25%. The advantages of fiber laser are obvious in electricity consumption and supporting cooling system. According to international safety standards, the laser harm level is divided into four levels. Because the wavelength of fiber laser is short, it is harmful to the human body, and it is the most harmful level. For safety reasons, fiber laser processing needs a fully enclosed environment. As a new laser technology, fiber laser cutting machine is far less popular than carbon dioxide laser cutting machine.

Main advantages: high photoelectric conversion rate, low power consumption, can cut stainless steel plate, carbon steel plate less than 12 mm, is the fastest laser cutting machine of these three kinds of machine cutting thin plate, small slit, good light spot quality, can be used for fine cutting.

Main market positioning: cutting below 12mm, especially the high-precision processing of thin plate, mainly for the manufacturers with high accuracy and efficiency requirements. It is estimated that with the emergence of 4000W and above lasers, fiber laser cutting machine will eventually replace most of the market of CO2 high-power laser cutting machine.

YAG laser cutting machine

YAG solid-state laser cutting machine has the characteristics of low price and good stability, but the energy efficiency is low, generally less than 3%. At present, the output power of most products is less than 600W. Due to the small output energy, it is mainly used for drilling, spot welding and thin plate cutting. Its green laser beam can be used in the case of pulse or continuous wave. It has the advantages of long wave length and good concentration. It is suitable for precision machining, especially for hole machining under pulse. It 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, so it can not cut non-metal materials, and what the YAG solid-state 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. If the semi-conductor optical pump is used, the energy efficiency can be greatly increased.

Main advantages: it can cut aluminum plate, copper plate and most non-ferrous metal materials that cannot be cut by other laser cutting machines. The purchase price of the machine is cheap, the use cost is low, and the maintenance is simple. Most of the key technologies have been mastered by domestic enterprises. The price of accessories and maintenance cost are low, and the machine operation and maintenance is simple, and the requirements for the quality of workers are not high.

Main market positioning: cutting below 8mm, mainly for small and medium-sized enterprises for their own use and most of the customers in sheet metal manufacturing, household appliances manufacturing, kitchenware manufacturing, decoration, advertising and other industries whose processing requirements are not particularly high, gradually replacing traditional processing equipment such as wire cutting, CNC punch, water cutting, low-power plasma and so on.

CO2 laser cutting machine

CO2 laser cutting machine can stably cut carbon steel less than 20 mm, stainless steel less than 10 mm and aluminum alloy less than 8 mm. The wavelength of CO2 laser is 10.6um, which is easy to be absorbed by nonmetallic materials. 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 nozzles for injecting oxygen, compressed air or inert gas N2 at the beam outlet to improve the cutting speed and the smoothness of the incision. In order to improve the stability and life of the power supply, the discharge stability of high-power CO2 laser should be solved. According to the international safety standards, the laser hazard level is divided into four levels, and CO2 laser belongs to the lowest level.

Main advantages: high power, general power is between 2000-4000w, can cut full-size stainless steel, carbon steel and other conventional materials within 25 mm, as well as aluminum plate within 4 mm and acrylic plate within 60 mm, wood material plate, PVC plate, and the cutting speed is very fast. In addition, because the output of CO2 laser is continuous laser, its cutting effect is the smoothest and the best among the three laser cutting machines.

Main market positioning: 6-25 mm medium and heavy plate cutting, mainly for large and medium-sized enterprises and some pure external processing laser cutting and processing enterprises. However, due to the large maintenance loss of the laser and the large power consumption of the host that cannot be overcome, In recent years, due to the huge impact of fiber laser cutting machine, the market is in a state of obvious shrinkage.