Factors Affecting Cutting Quality

Compared with traditional cutting technologies such as oxyacetylene and plasma, laser cutting has the advantages of fast cutting speed, narrow cutting gap, small heat-affected zone, good verticality of cutting edge, smooth cutting edge and many kinds of materials.

Laser cutting technology has been widely used in automobiles, machinery, Wujinjiaodian and other fields.

The key technology of laser cutting machine is opto-mechanical integration technology. The parameters of the laser beam and the performance of the machine tool system will directly affect the efficiency of laser cutting. Cutting accuracy is the main factor for the quality of CNC laser cutting machines.

Factors affecting the cutting quality of laser cutting machines include cutting speed, focus position, auxiliary gas, laser output power, etc.

1. Laser output power

The laser cutting machine is produced by the continuous wave output laser beam, and the laser power will affect the quality management. At this time, the beam pattern becomes more important to develop. Relatively high power density is obtained at the focal point at less than high power conditions.

2. Focus position adjustment

The relative position of the focal point and the surface of the workpiece is particularly important to ensure the quality of the cutting work. In most cases, the focus position is just on the surface of a workpiece material when cutting. When the focus is in the best position, the kerf is smaller, the efficiency is higher, and the better cutting speed can achieve better results.

The size of the laser spot is proportional to the focal length of the lens. The size of the laser spot is very small, and the power density at the focal point is very high, which is conducive to the cutting of materials, and is more suitable for high-speed cutting of thin materials. The long focal length lens has a wide depth of focus and sufficient power density for cutting thicker workpieces.

3. Cutting speed

The cutting speed is proportional to the laser power density, and increasing the power density can increase the cutting speed. The cutting speed is inversely proportional to the density of the material being cut. When other parameters remain the same, the factor that increases the cutting speed is to increase the power.

4. Auxiliary gas pressure

Materials can be cut by different laser cutting machines, all of which require us to use auxiliary gas. The influence of gas environment pressure is an important factor.

In most metal laser cutting, active gas (O_2) is used to form an exothermic oxidation reaction with molten iron, and the external heating can increase the cutting speed by 1/3 to 1/2. When cutting thin materials at high speeds, high gas pressures are required to prevent slag buildup on the backside of the cut (hot slag buildup on the workpiece can also damage the cutting edge). When the material thickness increases or the cutting speed is slow, the air pressure should be appropriately reduced to prevent the plastic cutting edge from frosting and reduce the air pressure for cutting.