The process

1. Mechanical structure design of laser cutting machine.This is mainly reflected in the beam and machine structure design.Beam design must be light and flexible, the machine structure requires high rigidity and high stability.These are the basic elements of high precision laser cutting.

2. Numerical control technology of laser cutting machine.This requires a quality control system.It should be equipped with laser proprietary control function, good motion control performance of machine tool under high speed operation and remote diagnosis and control function.

3. Focusing technology of high-power laser beam transmission.Beam quality is the key to laser cutting quality, and the key technologies include: proprietary beam quality control, beam radius adjustment, beam waist compensation, video beam calibration system, etc.

4. Proprietary technology of laser cutting machine.It includes edge monitoring, capacitance height tracking, cutting monitoring, penetration detection, etc.

5. Special CAD/CAM software system for laser cutting machine.In order to cooperate with the laser cutting graphics conversion, so that the writing of complex part program becomes simple and smooth, editing and modification is very convenient, it is necessary to develop and design special CAD/CAM software system.

6. Design of high power laser cutting head.

7. Research on laser cutting technology, especially research on curved surface cutting, titanium alloy cutting, thick plate cutting, etc.

Process characteristics

Compared with other thermal cutting methods, laser cutting is generally characterized by fast cutting speed and high quality.Specific summary is as follows a few respects

Advantages:

1. Good cutting quality

  Because of the small laser spot, high energy density and fast cutting speed, laser cutting can get better cutting quality.

(1)  The laser cutting incision is thin and narrow, the slit is parallel to both sides and perpendicular to the surface, the dimension precision of cutting parts can reach ±0.05mm.

(2) the cutting surface is clean and beautiful, the surface roughness is only tens of microns, even laser cutting can be used as the last process, no mechanical processing, parts can be used directly.

   Material after laser cutting, the width of the heat affected area is very small, the performance of the material near the cutting seam is almost not affected, and the workpiece deformation is small, high cutting precision, the geometry of the cutting seam is good, the shape of the cross section of the cutting seam shows a relatively regular rectangle.

2. High cutting efficiency

Because of the transmission characteristics of laser, laser cutting machine is generally equipped with a number of CNC worktables, the whole cutting process can be fully CNC.When operating, only need to change the NUMERICAL control program, can be applied to the cutting of different shape parts, can carry on the two dimensional cutting, also can realize the three dimensional cutting.

3. Fast cutting speed

Use 1200W laser to cut 2mm thick low carbon steel plate, cutting speed up to 600cm/min;Cutting 5mm thick polypropylene resin board, cutting speed up to 1200cm/min.The material does not need to be fixed when laser cutting, which can not only save the fixture, but also save the auxiliary time of loading and unloading.

4. Non-contact cutting

There is no contact between the cutting torch and the workpiece during laser cutting, and there is no wear of the tool.To process parts of different shapes, there is no need to replace the "tool", only need to change the laser output parameters.Laser cutting process low noise, small vibration, no pollution.

5. Many kinds of cutting materials

Compared with oxyacetylene cutting and plasma cutting, there are many kinds of laser cutting materials, including metal, non-metal, metal base and non-metal base composite materials, leather, wood and fiber, etc.However, different materials show different laser cutting adaptability due to their different thermophysical properties and laser absorption rate.

Disadvantages:

1. Due to the limitations of laser power and equipment volume, laser cutting can only cut plates and pipes with medium and small thickness. Moreover, with the increase of workpiece thickness, the cutting speed decreases obviously.

2. High cost of laser cutting equipment and large one-time investment.
 

Range of application

    Most laser cutting machines are controlled by numerical control programs or made into cutting robots.As a precision machining method, laser cutting can be used to cut almost all materials, including two-dimensional or three-dimensional cutting of thin metal plates.

    In the field of automobile manufacturing, the space curve cutting technology such as car roof window has been widely used.Volkswagen USES a laser with a power of 500W to cut complex body plates and various curved parts.In the aerospace field, laser cutting technology is mainly used for the cutting of special aviation materials, such as titanium alloy, aluminum alloy, nickel alloy, chromium alloy, stainless steel, beryllium oxide, composite materials, plastics, ceramics and quartz, etc.The aerospace parts processed by laser cutting include engine flame cylinder, titanium alloy thin-walled casing, aircraft frame, titanium alloy skin, wing long truss, tail wall panel, helicopter main rotor, space shuttle ceramic heat insulation tile, etc.

    Laser cutting forming technology has also been widely used in the field of nonmetallic materials.It can not only cut materials with high hardness and great brittleness, such as silicon nitride, ceramics, quartz, etc.Also can cut and process flexible materials, such as cloth, paper, plastic board, rubber, etc., such as using laser for clothing tailoring, clothing material can be saved 10% ~ 12%, improve the efficiency of 3 times more.