What is fiber laser cutting?

The rapidly growing science of laser cutting is dominated by two main methods: CO₂ laser cutting and fiber laser cutting. Elias Snitzer invented the fiber laser in 1961 and demonstrated its use in 1963. Serious commercial applications only emerged in the 1990s.

• What are the features of fiber laser cutting?

• How does fiber laser cutting work?

• What are the applications of fiber laser cutting?

What are the features of fiber laser cutting?

The maintenance costs of fiber laser cutting machine is a big selling point. There are fewer moving parts and less adjustments to make, resulting in lower down-times due to maintenance.

Today, the fiber laser cutting is significantly quicker when cutting thin metals. However, CO₂ laser cutting still beats fiber laser cutting when cutting thicker materials, such as 10 mm and more, with its better edge quality.

Less expensive: Possibly the most valuable advantage of fiber laser cutting is the price. The cost overhead for this technology represents a massive savings, both in initial purchase and over the lifetime of the laser. For starters, fiber laser cutting doesn't require expensive optical mirrors as is the case with other laser technology.

No moving parts: Moving parts lead to heightened maintenance and an increase in operating costs. As light pulses are sent through the fiber cabling, fiber laser cutting does not require moving mirrors in order to generate the necessary laser. To extend the life of the mirror regular maintenance is needed. If regular maintenance is not performed, the chance of material damage increases, which not only takes the fiber laser cutting offline but increases the cost to operate.

Boost in cutting speed: Another advantage in using fiber laser cutting is the increase in cutting speed. When cutting a straight line of 1mm in thickness, a fiber-based laser can cut three times faster than that of a traditional laser. This includes cutting through materials such as stainless steel. When cutting through 2 mm thickness the time improvement does drop to twice as fast, but never the less, it still represents a sizable improvement.

Cutting reflective material: One of the major problems when using a traditional laser is in regards to reflective material. There is the chance a laser may bounce off the reflective material, which in turn will damage the equipment. Traditional lasers are not often used when cutting brass, aluminum and copper. With fiber laser cutting though, this reflective material problem is no longer an issue, which in turn allows for the cutting of these materials.

Higher electrical efficiency: Conventional CO₂ laser cutting requires a considerable amount more energy to product the laser beam. In fact, a 2kW fiber laser cutting setup uses a third of the power as a 4kW CO₂ laser cutting machine. This means the fiber optic configuration will not only save power each and every time it is used, but due to the lower energy requirements it helps increase the life expectancy of the hardware as well.

How does fiber laser cutting work?

The first fiber laser cutting machine was introduced in 2008 at EuroBlech. The different laser beam conveying methods allowed cutting highly reflective metals. Now, metals like aluminum, brass, copper and galvanized steel are available for laser cutting.

Fiber laser cutting is simpler and more durable. The fiber laser light is first created by banks of diodes. It is then channeled through optic cables, where it gets amplified. The cables are doped with rare earth elements like erbium and thulium. These elements are used for amplifying the light. Finally, the lens focuses the light to form a laser beam ready for cutting. The new system needs no gases, no mirror realignments, and no warming up.

A big advantage of fiber laser cutting machine is its high energy conversion rate. Around 75% of the received power is converted into the laser beam. The CO₂ laser cutting machine efficiency is around 20%. The significant difference comes mainly from the low losses in heat generation. This makes 2 kW fiber laser cutting machine comparable to more high-power CO₂ laser cutting machine.

What are the applications of fiber laser cutting?

Although the majority of the market is still in the grasp of CO₂ laser cutting, fiber laser cutting is catching up. Now, an increasingly large share of new sales is reserved for the latter. Fiber laser cutting is everywhere in the modern world. Due to the different wavelengths fiber laser cutting can generate, it is widely used in industrial environments to perform cutting, marking, welding, cleaning, texturing, drilling and a lot more. They are also used in other fields such as telecommunication and medicine.

The future seems bright for fiber laser cutting. Manufacturing is a traditional industry where changes take a long time. But fiber has set its eyes on dethroning CO₂ as the leader in the sector. The same can be said about equipment for traditional as well as laser tube cutting.

Fiber laser cutting uses an optical fiber cable made of silica glass to guide light. The resulting laser beam is more precise than with other types of lasers because it is straighter and smaller. Fiber laser cutting machines also have a small footprint, good electrical efficiency, low maintenance and low operating costs.

Learn more something about fiber laser cutting can know the features of CO₂ laser cutting and the working principal of CO₂ laser cutting. If you want to buy high-quality fiber laser cutting machine with reasonable price,Holy Precision Manufacturing Co., Limited . can help you to open up a further and larger market, it is wise to choose us as your business partner. We also provide other types of laser cutting machines by contacting us online.