How to determine the cutting effect of a laser cutting machine?

How to determine the cutting effect of a laser cutting machine?

In order to enable everyone to purchase laser cutting machines with better quality and effectiveness, let's talk about how to judge the cutting effect of laser cutting machines. I hope the following introduction is helpful to everyone.

1、 Roughness

Laser cutting of the cross-section will form vertical patterns, and the depth of the patterns determines the roughness of the cutting surface. The shallower the patterns, the smoother the cutting cross-section. Roughness not only affects the appearance of edges, but also affects friction characteristics. In most cases, it is necessary to minimize the roughness as much as possible, so the shallower the texture, the higher the cutting quality.

2、 Verticality

If the thickness of the sheet metal exceeds 10mm, the perpendicularity of the cutting edge is very important. When away from the focal point, the laser beam becomes divergent, and the cutting widens towards the top or bottom based on the position of the focal point. The cutting edge deviates by a few millimeters from the vertical line, and the more perpendicular the edge is, the higher the cutting quality.

3、 Cutting width

The cutting width generally does not affect the cutting quality. It only has a significant impact when a special contour is formed inside the component. This is because the cutting width determines the small inner diameter of the contour. As the thickness of the sheet increases, the cutting width also increases. So to ensure equal high accuracy, regardless of the width of the incision, the workpiece in the processing area of the laser cutting machine should be constant.

4、 Striation

When high-speed cutting thick plates, molten metal does not appear in the incision below the vertical laser beam, but instead sprays out at the back of the laser beam. As a result, curved patterns formed at the cutting edge, closely following the moving laser beam. To correct this problem, reducing the feed rate at the end of the cutting process can greatly eliminate the formation of patterns.

5、 Burr

The formation of burrs is a very important factor determining the quality of laser cutting, as the removal of burrs requires additional work, so the severity and quantity of burrs can intuitively determine the quality of cutting.

6、 Deformation

If cutting causes the component to heat up sharply, it will deform. This is particularly important in fine machining, as the contours and connecting pieces here are usually only a few tenths of a millimeter wide. Controlling laser power and using short laser pulses can reduce component heating and avoid deformation.