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Views: 8 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2022-05-13 Origin: Site
Fiber laser cutting and plasma cutting technology are widely applied in the production fields nowadays, especially the fiber laser cutting machines. As high-efficiency cutting equipment, it has become more and more mature and popular for diverse industries. What are the differences between these two?
Plasma Cutting Principle
Plasma cutters work by sending an electric arc through a gas that is passing through a constricted opening. The gas can be shop air, nitrogen, argon, oxygen. etc. This elevates the temperature of the gas to the point that it enters a 4th state of matter. We all are familiar with the first three: i.e., solid, liquid, and gas. Scientists call this additional state plasma. As the metal being cut is part of the circuit, the electrical conductivity of the plasma causes the arc to transfer to the work.
Fiber Laser Cutting Principle
Laser cutting uses the laser beam as the heat source for hot cutting, its working principle is similar to laser welding.
The temperature of laser cutting exceed 11000 ℃, which would have made any material gasification, therefore gasification also plays an important role in addition to the melting during laser cutting process.
The laser cutting process of some materials, such as carbon and some ceramics, purely belongs to the gasification process.
The laser cutting of metal mostly adopts high power carbon dioxide continuous laser generator.
When cutting, spray the inert gas flow, blow out the incision to melt the metal, and make the incision smooth and straight. The jet’s oxygen flow will increase the cutting speed.
The laser cutting has a narrow incision, precise size, smooth surface and better cutting quality than any other hot cutting methods.
Almost all metal materials can be cut by laser, the cutting thickness various from a few microns to a sheet of 50 mm.
The investment of laser cutting equipment is high, it is mainly used for various thickness under 12 mm including stainless steel, titanium and titanium alloy, refractory metal and precious metal precision cutting, can also be used for non-metallic materials cutting such as plastic, wood, cloth, graphite and ceramic.
For example, wood processing industry already uses the laser to cut plywood, particle board and garment industry also use the laser for a large number of cutting cloth.
In addition, laser cutting is also suitable for some special purposes, such as the stone bearing drilling, the surgeon using the laser as the scalpel.
The parameters of the laser beam, the performance and precision of laser cutting machine and NC system will directly affect the efficiency and quality of laser cutting.
Plasma can cut anything that is conductive, which pretty much means it can cut all kinds of metals. That includes reflective metals such as aluminum, copper, and brass (something laser machines struggle with).
Plasma can also cut glass and ceramic. Stuff like plastic and wood cannot really be cut with plasma because they are electrically conductive.
Laser machines can cut all kinds of materials. The material you can cut though will depend on what kind of laser machine you have. CO2 laser machine can’t cut through reflective metals like aluminum, copper, and brass. But they can cut through nonmetallic materials like wood and plastic.
Fiber lasers on the other hand can cut through reflective materials if the have enough power. They can pretty much cut through any kind of metal with enough power. They will only be limited by how thick they can cut.
Material Thickness
When it comes to cutting various Fiber laser machines are more efficient at cutting thin metals. A fiber laser machine can cut thin metals efficiently up to 25mm or 1 inch. After that, fiber lasers start cutting metal less efficiently. You would need high amounts of power, which by the way cost a lot more money, to cut ticker metals above 25mm or 1 inch.
Plasma on the other hand can effectively cut any kind of metal up to 80mm thick or 3 inches. Interestingly, plasma can start cutting faster than laser when cutting thicker materials.
Accuracy of Cuts
The major thing that makes laser cutting machines great is that they can cut metal very accurately. They can cut 2X more accurate than plasma cutters. Plasma lasers can cut metals at an accuracy of 0.1mm or .004 inches. Laser cutters cuts: .05mm or .002 inches.
Also, if you can get the cutting parameters right in laser cutting, you won’t have to worry so much about leftover cutting residue like dross.
With plasma, you usually have to finish the cut with scraping or shaving because there’s leftover residue like dross.
So, if your metal cuts need to be precise, then you need a laser cutter. If you just need to cut simple shapes, and thick ones, then a plasma laser should be alright.
