Overview and development trend of laser cutting head industry

1. The development history of laser cutting technology

Laser technology is a high-tech technology that has developed rapidly in recent years. Laser cutting technology is widely used in industrial production. It can cut metal, non-metal, plastic, wood, glass and other materials, and its processing fields are wide, and The cutting cost is low, the efficiency is high, and the quality of the processed workpiece is good.

The development of laser cutting in China has roughly gone through the following stages:

Chart 1: The development history of China's laser cutting technology

Industry exploration period (1957-1961): 40 years after Einstein proposed the laser theory, in 1957, Chinese scientists established the first domestic optical research institute in Changchun, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Changchun) Optical Precision Instrument and Mechanical Research Under the leadership of the older generation of experts, a group of young scientific and technological workers have grown rapidly, and a team of young and middle-aged researchers with innovative spirit have been gathered in a short period of time. The hypothesis and experimental plan of sex and coherence. With the advent of the world's first laser in 1960, China's laser research and development began to speed up, and successfully developed China's first ruby laser in 1961 and the first carbon dioxide laser in 1965.

Industry start-up period (1965-1978): In just a few years after the first carbon dioxide laser was developed in China, domestic laser technology developed rapidly. In terms of basic research and key technologies, a series of new concepts, new methods and new technologies (Such as cavity Q mutation and rotating mirror Q adjustment, traveling wave amplification, use of rhenium ions, free electron oscillation radiation, etc.) have been proposed and implemented, many of which are original, and gradually use lasers for material cutting field.

High-speed development period (1978-present): Since the reform and opening up, laser cutting technology has obtained unprecedented opportunities for development, laser technology has made unprecedented progress, and a number of internationally advanced achievements have emerged. Full coverage in the field of material processing.

2. Laser cutting principle and cutting head

Laser cutting is to concentrate the high-intensity laser emitted by the laser together, and then irradiate the surface of the processed material (workpiece). During the irradiation process, the light energy of the laser is quickly converted into heat energy, so that the temperature in the material irradiation area quickly reaches the material The melting point or even the boiling point of the (workpiece), the material (workpiece) is melted or even gasified under the action of high temperature, and then the auxiliary gas is used to blow the melted residue away and cool to form a small hole; under the guidance of the numerical control system, with the workpiece The constant relative movement with the laser, the constant interaction between the two, constantly blows away the melted residue, so that the hole continuously forms a narrow slit, so as to achieve the purpose of cutting the material.

Chart 2: Working principle of laser cutting

Compared with traditional cutting methods, laser cutting has obvious advantages such as high precision yield, fast speed, simple operation and low production cost. Traditional mechanical cutting mainly includes special processing methods such as wire cutting, oxygen acetylene cutting torch cutting, and plasma cutting. Cutting can process any metal and non-metal materials. With the development of laser technology, a smaller laser beam spot diameter can bring better surface roughness after cutting, and the processing process will not produce excessive thermal effects and material deformation effects. , No need for secondary processing.

In the laser cutting process, the laser cutting head focuses the divergent light generated by the laser onto the surface of the material. After the material absorbs the laser energy and melts, the cutting auxiliary gas discharges the molten metal to realize the cutting and separation of the processed material. It is an important part of the laser cutting equipment. . The components of the laser cutting head mainly include optical fiber connection block, collimating component, focusing component, protective mirror box, sensor and control box, cutting nozzle, etc.

Chart 3: Laser cutting head structure

The optical fiber connector is the interface part of the optical fiber into the cutting head. Common interfaces include QBII interface, QD interface, etc.; the collimating component is mainly responsible for converging the divergent light from the optical fiber and straightening or collimating it; the focusing component will The laser beam is gathered into a high-density light spot or light speed. The smaller the light spot, the higher the density, and the smaller the cutting gap formed on the surface of the workpiece, so as to achieve high-precision and high-speed cutting. The protective mirror box is used to connect the outside world to the inside of the cutting head. The optical path is isolated to ensure the sealing of the optical path, prevent dust and impurities from entering the optical path, and extend the service life of the laser cutting head; the sensor and control box sensor is equivalent to the human brain. It can sense and control the cutting action of the equipment, and feel the cutting head and the surface of the workpiece. Distance, the distance between the induction cutting head and the edge of the workpiece, etc.; the cutting nozzle is the component closest to the workpiece to be cut. During the cutting process, the nozzle will form an air field on the cutting surface to blow away the slag generated during the cutting process. Prevent the laser head from being contaminated by foreign objects.

Three, laser cutting head industry overview

Compared with the laser cutting technology of developed countries, China's laser cutting technology still has a gap. In terms of industry, some medium and high-end laser products and their materials and components are still in the development stage, or have not yet formed a scale. High-end, high-intelligence, and high-automation laser products are relatively lacking.

At present, the laser cutting head market is mainly controlled by foreign companies such as Germany's Pretzert, the U.S. Second Land Group, Ennai and other foreign companies. Although domestic laser cutting equipment has the ability to independently develop and produce cutting heads and other core components, the proportion of applications in the sales of products is relatively Lower.

Chart 4: Major competitors in the laser cutting head market

Take Hongshi Laser, a leading domestic laser cutting equipment company, as an example. Although the company produces laser cutting head products, the company still needs to purchase laser cutting head products from foreign manufacturers. In 2020, Hongshi Laser's purchase amount from Pretzert Precision Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. is as high as RMB 27,837,500, ranking fifth among the company's suppliers in 2020.

Figure 5: The top five suppliers of Hongshi Laser in 2020

Fourth, the development trend of laser cutting head industry

With the increasing development of laser cutting machines, the importance of cutting heads has become more and more prominent. In recent years, the application of automatic focusing cutting heads has become more and more extensive, leading cutting head companies have introduced cutting heads that combine focusing and zooming. Among them, the Procutter series of German Precitec adopts a collimator lens for focusing. The automatic focusing cutting head of this series is very popular with laser cutting machine manufacturers and customers; among them, the BIMOFSC-MZ series launched by the Erlu Group can independently set the focus position and focus. The diameter, the focus position can be adjusted from +10 to -30mm, and the magnification is between 1.2 and 3.2. It plays an important role in the cutting of thick plates, especially when cutting thick aluminum or stainless steel plates, and the cutting section is guaranteed .