Laser cutting is not just laser cutting. There are different processes like laser beam cutting, sublimation cutting or flame cutting to achieve the desired result with the highest quality.
The advantages of laser cutting
Whether plates or complex geometries - the laser works with millimeter precision and cuts metals such as steel, stainless steel, aluminum and copper with absolute precision.
- Contour freedom and flexibility for complex geometries: Because of its flexibility, the thermal cutting process is often used for small batches that allow a large number of variations. The laser beam is focused on one spot, the rest of the material is hardly or not at all thermally heated. As a result, the gap when cutting is much smaller, barely wider than the beam itself. The result: The contours are very smooth.
- Clean cut edges without the need for post-processing: The very high cutting speed combined with an extremely thin laser beam enables clean edges, eliminating the need for tedious post-processing.
- High quality of the final product: the precision of the processing by the laser beam ensures a high standard of quality, avoiding rough edges.
- High cutting speed: Depending on the material and sheet thickness, very high cutting speeds can be achieved without having to allow any noticeable loss of quality.
- Future viability of laser cutting technology: Especially in sheet metal processing, the continuous further development of innovative fiber lasers contributes to the fact that laser beam cutting is a competitive and popular cutting process.
- Sustainability of the technology: Material loss is avoided due to highly efficient material placement during laser cutting. Especially in dynamic commodity prices, this is an important issue for many companies to act in a resource-conscious manner.
- High profitability: Short set-up times, avoidance of tool changes and the combination of several orders in one workflow result in high cost efficiency even with small quantities
- Combinability: Laser cutting can be combined with other stages of metal processing. (e.g. by engraving or marking)
Depending on the requirements, ie. what kind of laser part is needed for what use and what thickness of material, different processes are more suitable.
Laser cutting by burning
For metals with a high iron content, laser cutting by burning is applicable. Oxygen is used as a technical cutting gas, mainly for machining carbon steel. First, the laser beam penetrates the metal and subsequently heats it. Oxygen is blown into the notch under high pressure. The heated metal then reacts with the oxygen, burns and releases energy. The extra energetic boost means that Laser Burn Cutting allows for very high cutting speeds and therefore also processing thick sheet metal.
Advantages
- higher cutting speeds than other processes
- higher sheet thicknesses possible than with other processes
Disadvantage
- Formation of oxides on the cut edges, which must be removed if necessary
- not applicable to stainless steel cacti and to non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, copper and brass
Laser cutting by melting
Laser cutting by melting guarantees consistently high cutting quality and exceptional precision. Nitrogen is used in cutting, mainly for aluminum and stainless steel, but sometimes for steel. The laser cutting process is by melting and using the laser beam to melt metal along the cutting contour. The melt obtained during the process is blown by a gas jet. Important here: The laser beam is precisely aligned, so no unnecessary oxide can form.
Advantages
- oxide-free cutting edges
- high cutting quality
- little post-processing of the edges required, therefore high profitability
Disadvantage
- lower cutting speeds than laser burning
Which laser cutting process for what purpose?
Depending on the requirements you place on your product and the material chosen, different processes are used. You can trust our experience and the experience of our network of manufacturers because we know which laser cutting process is best for which purpose.
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