Four Common Methods Of Laser Cutting

1. Melt cutting

Melt cutting is another standard process used for cutting metals. It can also be used to cut other fusible materials, such as ceramics.

Nitrogen or argon is used as the cutting gas, and the gas is blown through the cut at a pressure of 2 to 20 bar. Argon and nitrogen are inert gases, which means that they do not react with the molten metal in the cut, but only blow it to the bottom. At the same time, the inert gas protects the cutting edge from oxidation by air.

2. Flame cutting

Flame cutting is a standard process used for cutting mild steel, using oxygen as the cutting gas. The oxygen is pressurized to up to 6 bar and blown into the cut. There, the heated metal reacts with the oxygen: combustion and oxidation begin. The chemical reaction releases a large amount of energy (up to five times the energy of the laser) to assist the laser beam in cutting.

3. Vaporization cutting

The material surface is illuminated with light of extremely high power density, vaporizing the material in a very short time, and the vapor is blown away from the material surface, thus forming the cut. The energy required to heat a material to vaporization temperature is much greater than that required to melt it, so vaporization cutting consumes more energy than melting cutting. Vaporization cutting is mostly used for very thin metal materials and non-metallic materials, such as plastics, wood, etc.

4. Controlled fracture cutting

For brittle materials that are easily damaged by heat, high-speed, controllable cutting by laser beam heating is called controlled fracture cutting. The main content of this cutting process is: the laser beam heats a small area of ​​brittle material, causing a large thermal gradient and severe mechanical deformation in the area, resulting in cracks in the material. As long as the heating gradient is balanced, the laser beam can guide the crack to form in any desired direction. The material generally used for this cutting is brittle material.