Various types of lasers are used for metal cutting in production automation industry. Some of the most widely sued laser machines are CO2 lasers and YAG lasers. YAG lasers are ideal for 3D applications as they can be operated across flexible fiber optic cables and manipulated with a robot. Carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers are mostly used to cut flat metal surfaces. But these can also be used to cut other surfaces too. There are no hard and set rules for using CO2 lasers on flat surfaces only.
Carbon Dioxide lasers are advantageous for cutting thick materials as these offers a high beam quality at high beam power. YAG lasers are no match to the efficiency of CO2 lasers when it comes to beam quality at high powers, but this may soon change as Disk lasers evolve. Another type of laser that is gaining much popularity these days is Fiber laser. These lasers enable the laser beam to be delivered along fiber optic cables.
The principal gases used in laser cutting are oxygen or nitrogen. Sometimes argon is also used in place of oxygen and nitrogen especially on sensitive materials such as titanium where the material would react with either oxygen or nitrogen.
The cutting nozzle of the laser machine is the key to success. It forms the cutting gas jet and thus determines the cut quality. Advantages of laser cutting are not just the cut precision and the cutting speeds to be achieved, but also potential for allowing automation controls system to run a laser machine unattended in night shifts.
