Comparison and purchase of fiber cutting machine and CO2 cutting machine

Cutting is currently one of the most widely used laser industrial processing technologies. Fiber lasers and CO2 lasers are currently the most commonly used laser cutting equipment. As a user, you must first understand the advantages and disadvantages of fiber lasers and CO2 lasers, and then judge the purchase.

The wavelength of the laser produced by fiber laser (hereinafter referred to as fiber laser) is 1.06μm, and the wavelength of laser produced by CO2 laser (hereinafter referred to as CO2 laser) is 10.6μm. Both are infrared light and can be absorbed by materials, so they are used For industrial material processing. Fiber laser cannot cut non-metals, including wood, plastic, leather, cotton and linen fabrics, etc. If the material to be processed is exactly non-metal, then the fiber laser can only be rejected, and the non-CO2 laser is none other than. CO2 laser cannot cut copper materials, including brass and red copper. The reason is that for CO2 laser, copper is a highly reflective material, and almost all of the laser is reflected but not absorbed; the light is reflected back to the laser, causing harm.

　　At the same time, we can evaluate the comprehensive indicators of the laser (machine) through cutting speed, perforation efficiency, and section quality.

　　 Fiber lasers have advantages in cutting thin plates, especially those with a thickness of less than 3mm. The advantages are obvious. Compared with CO2 lasers, the maximum cutting speed ratio can reach 4:1; and 6mm is the critical thickness at which the advantages of the two lasers can be interchanged. For cutting plates with a thickness greater than 6mm, fiber laser has no advantage; as the thickness increases, CO2 gradually shows an advantage, but it is not significant. In general, fiber lasers have advantages in cutting speed.

　　 Piercing efficiency:

　　 Before the laser beam starts to cut the workpiece, it needs to penetrate the workpiece. The perforation time of fiber laser is significantly longer than that of CO2 laser. Take 3KW fiber laser and CO2 laser as examples. For carbon steel with a thickness of 8mm, the latter is 1 second less than the former; when the thickness is 10mm, the latter is 2 seconds less; with the increase of thickness, the advantage of CO2 laser in perforation becomes more and more significant.

　　 Section quality:

　　 Section quality usually refers to roughness (finishness) and perpendicularity.

　　 When cutting steel plates with a thickness of 3mm or less, the section quality (roughness and perpendicularity) of fiber laser cutting is slightly worse than that of CO2. As the thickness increases, the difference in section quality becomes more obvious.

　　 In addition, the carbon steel plate has a high absorption rate of fiber laser energy, which is a disadvantage when cutting small holes (aperture ≤ plate thickness), and the cutting quality is poor.

　　 With the above comparison, users can make reasonable choices. Fiber cutting speed is comparable to CO2 laser. The section quality and perforation efficiency are both inferior to CO2 lasers. We can't say whether fiber laser is better or CO2 laser is better. Fiber lasers and CO2 lasers have their own advantages and disadvantages when facing specific application requirements.

　　By the way, the accuracy of laser cutting has nothing to do with which laser is used, but is related to the machine positioning accuracy, repeat positioning accuracy, and consistency of the slit width. The slit for fiber laser cutting is narrow, and the slit for CO2 is slightly wider. But the width of the slit does not affect the accuracy of the parts, because the slit compensation function can offset the slit width.