Advantages of fiber lasers over CO2 lasers

Advantages of fiber lasers over CO2 lasers

Fiber laser cutting technology is a cutting process that has only begun to exert strength in recent years. Although many companies are just beginning to understand this technology, they are also beginning to realize the difference between fiber laser cutting and common carbon dioxide laser cutting. With the continuous improvement of cutting technology, fiber laser cutting has become one of the most advanced technologies in the industry.

Thermal cutting methods mainly include flame, plasma and laser cutting technologies. Among them, laser cutting can achieve the best cutting quality, especially for fine features and hole cutting with a diameter and thickness ratio of less than 1:1. Therefore, laser cutting technology has become the most suitable method for strict and fine cutting in this industry.

In the field of laser cutting, fiber laser cutting has received a lot of attention because it not only provides the cutting speed and quality that can be achieved by carbon dioxide laser cutting, but also significantly reduces maintenance and operation costs.

The core advantage of fiber cutting

In the carbon dioxide laser cutting technology, carbon dioxide gas is the medium that generates the laser beam. However, fiber lasers are transmitted through diodes and fiber optic cables. The fiber laser system generates a laser beam through multiple diode pumps, and then transmits it to the laser cutting head through a flexible fiber optic cable instead of transmitting the beam through a mirror. This has many advantages, the first is the size of the cutting bed. Unlike the gas laser technology, the reflector must be set within a certain distance. Unlike fiber laser technology, there is no range limit. Moreover, the fiber laser can even be installed next to the plasma cutting head of the plasma cutting bed. There is no such option for CO2 laser cutting technology. Similarly, when compared with a gas cutting system of the same power, the system is more compact due to the ability of the fiber to bend.

The most important and meaningful advantage of fiber cutting technology should be its energy efficiency. With fiber laser complete solid-state digital module and single design, fiber laser cutting system has higher electro-optical conversion efficiency than carbon dioxide laser cutting. For each power supply unit of the carbon dioxide cutting system, the actual general utilization rate is about 8% to 10%. For fiber laser cutting systems, users can expect higher power efficiency, about 25% to 30%. In other words, the overall energy consumption of the fiber cutting system is about 3 to 5 times less than that of the carbon dioxide cutting system, which improves the energy efficiency to more than 86%.

Fiber laser has the characteristics of short wavelength, which improves the absorption of the cutting material to the beam, and can cut such as brass and copper as well as non-conductive materials. A more concentrated beam produces a smaller focus and a deeper depth of focus, so that the fiber laser can cut thinner materials quickly and cut medium-thick materials more effectively. When cutting materials up to 6mm thick, the cutting speed of a 1.5kW fiber laser cutting system is equivalent to that of a 3kW carbon dioxide laser cutting system. Because the operating cost of fiber cutting is lower than that of a common carbon dioxide cutting system, this can be understood as an increase in output and a reduction in commercial costs.

There are also maintenance issues. The carbon dioxide laser system needs regular maintenance; the reflector needs maintenance and calibration, and the resonant cavity needs regular maintenance. On the other hand, fiber laser cutting solutions require almost no maintenance. The carbon dioxide laser cutting system requires carbon dioxide as the laser gas. Due to the purity of the carbon dioxide gas, the resonant cavity will be contaminated and needs to be cleaned regularly. For a multi-kilowatt carbon dioxide system, this project costs at least US$20,000 per year. In addition, many carbon dioxide cutting requires high-speed axial turbines to deliver laser gas, and the turbines require maintenance and overhaul. Finally, compared with the carbon dioxide cutting system, the fiber cutting solution is more compact and has less impact on the ecological environment, so less cooling is required and energy consumption is significantly reduced.

The combination of less maintenance and higher energy efficiency makes fiber laser cutting and carbon dioxide laser cutting systems emit less carbon dioxide and are more environmentally friendly.