Sub 2mm Metal Cutting with a CW-M Laser
There are many industrial applications of Laser profile cutting sub 2mm sheet metal parts, and this technology is widely used in industries such as automotive, electronics, and general manufacturing.
This application insight looks in to sub 2mm cutting of metals with a 400W CW/M Fiber Laser, focusing on aluminium, mild steel and stainless steel. It includes detailed results of cutting speeds, as well as examples of cut edge profiles for all three metal types. It explores the many features and benefits of the 400W CW/M Laser looking at how it compares to other technologies, giving details to why an SPI Fiber Laser is the ideal solution, bringing proven technology into high volume, low cost applications.
Introduction
Examples of the typical sub 2mm cutting applications are shown in figure 1. In a typical job shop, sub 2mm sheet metal can account for between 30%-80% of the material flow.
Fiber Lasers have a proven track record in high volume production environments, succeeding in high quality, low cost applications and so this type of Laser is therefore ideally suited to this cutting application.
CW/M Lasers Features and Benefits
Our Fiber Lasers bring many benefits to this type of application as outlined in the table below. Given the appropriate workstation, industrial Fiber Lasers can process flat sheet, formed components and tube materials and therefore are a very flexible process tool. In addition, Fiber Lasers feature a low maintenance Laser architecture and high wall-plug efficiency leading to lower production costs.
| Features | Benefits |
| Smaller focal spot size | More efficient cutting. Faster on thin materials Able to make high quality surface marks |
| Compressed air assist gas | Significantly lower operating costs |
| Small footprint | More compact system |
| Low periodic maintenance | Less downtime |
| Optical fiber beam delivery | Beam delivery does not need re-alignment and has low maintenance requirement. Capability to mount on a robot |
| Common line cutting and tight nesting | Efficient use of sheet material |
| 4x more energy efficient than a CO2 Laser | Lower running costs |
| No process consumables / wearables | Enables lights out operation |
Fig. 1. Some examples of typical industrial sub 2mm cutting applications.
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