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Application of laser cutting technology in marine engineering construction

Laser technology is a remarkable achievement in the science and technology industry in the middle and late part of the last century. Its emergence has greatly promoted the progress of human civilization in various industries. In various fields, laser technology has been widely used in recent years, and its application in the offshore engineering and construction industry is also closer to the front line of production. At present, there are mainly four types of plate cutting in the offshore engineering and construction industry, namely flame cutting, plasma cutting, water cutting, and laser cutting. Among them, flame cutting is mostly used in the cutting of medium and thick plates, water cutting is less used due to pollution problems, and in the cutting of medium and thin plates, plasma cutting occupies a larger share. However, due to the rapid development of laser cutting technology, especially the research and development of high-power lasers and the reduction of costs, the advantages of laser cutting in medium and thin plate cutting have become increasingly prominent, and its application status in the marine engineering industry will also become increasingly important.

marine engineering construction (1)

1 Principle of laser cutting In laser cutting,

The horizontal laser beam emitted by the laser turns into a vertical downward laser beam through a total reflection mirror, and is then focused by a lens to form a small spot at the focus. The light spot shines on the material and quickly melts the material, evaporating and ablating the material in the illuminated area or causing it to reach the ignition point. At the same time, the high-speed airflow formed by compressed gas is used to blow away the molten material, thereby cutting the material using thermal cutting. Laser cutting has fast cutting speed, narrow slit, good quality, small deformation and low pollution.

2 Main Types of Laser Cutting


The types of laser cutting mainly include vaporization cutting, melting cutting, reactive melting cutting, controlled fracture cutting, etc. The most promising application in marine engineering cutting is reactive melting cutting.


2.1 Vaporization cutting


The so-called vapor cutting is to focus the speed of light on the surface of the material and heat it to the boiling point to form a small hole. Keyholes cause a sudden increase in absorption and rapidly deepen the hole. The surface temperature of the material rises fast enough to reach the boiling point quickly to avoid melting due to heat conduction. Part of the material evaporates into steam and disappears, and part of the material is blown away by the auxiliary air flow and ejected from the bottom. When the hole deepens and the material boils, the steam generated erodes the melt wall and blows out the jet, further expanding the hole. Non-melting materials such as wood, carbon, and thermoset plastics are often cut this way.

2.2 Melting cutting


Fusion cutting is the most widely used cutting method in metal cutting. When the power density of the incident laser beam exceeds a certain threshold, the interior of the material at the point where the beam is irradiated begins to evaporate, forming holes. Once such a small hole is formed, it acts like a black-like body and absorbs almost all of the incident beam energy. The small hole is surrounded by a wall of molten metal, and the high-speed steam flow keeps the molten metal wall relatively stable. Then, through the workpiece, an auxiliary air jet coaxial with the beam drives the molten material around the hole. As the laser beam scans, the small hole moves synchronously along the cutting direction to form a slit. The laser beam continues along the leading edge of the slit, blowing the molten material out of the slit continuously or in pulses. The laser power used in fusion cutting is much smaller than that in vaporization cutting, and is mainly used for materials that can react exothermically with oxygen, such as ordinary carbon steel, aluminum, copper, etc. The auxiliary gases used include various inert gases, nitrogen, air, etc


2.3 Reactive melting cutting

Reactive melting cutting essentially means that the laser heats the workpiece to its ignition point and reacts with oxygen or other active gases to burn the material and produce a violent chemical reaction, thus forming another heat source other than the laser. Cutting is completed under the combined action of two heat sources: laser radiation energy and heat energy generated by the chemical reaction of oxygen and metal. Compared with fusion cutting, oxygen-assisted fusion cutting has a faster cutting speed, and the laser power required for reaction fusion cutting is smaller, which is only 1/20 of vapor cutting. It is widely used to cut thicker steel, carbon steel The maximum cutting thickness can reach 50 mm.
2.4 Controlled fracture cutting For brittle materials that are susceptible to thermal damage, laser beam heating is used for high-speed controlled cutting, which is called controlled fracture cutting. It is usually used to cut brittle materials such as glass.

3 Application advantages of laser cutting technology

construction of new wind turbines at the ijsselmeer, breezanddijk, holland


Laser technology has the advantages of fast processing speed, high processing precision and good processing quality, which allows it to be used in cutting complex parts and is widely used in many fields. This article will conduct a comprehensive analysis and elaboration on the advantages in the above aspects.


3.1 Cutting of complex parts


During the processing, laser processing technology can be used to quickly process a variety of metal and non-metal materials, with a cutting gap of only 0.2~0.5 mm. This technology can process complex parts while ensuring processing accuracy. In addition, in the traditional process, the setting and adjustment of processing parameters takes a long time for workers and the process is long. However, using laser processing technology to process metal materials, this part of the time can be effectively shortened. Therefore, the advantages of laser technology in terms of processing speed are becoming more and more prominent, and more and more offshore engineering companies are applying laser processing technology to offshore engineering construction.


3.2 Laser technology has high processing accuracy


In the process of using laser technology for marine engineering construction, metal parts require relatively high processing accuracy of cutting technology. After the laser irradiates the surface of the part, the surface of the workpiece will be partially melted. One of the main technical advantages of laser cutting technology is to adjust the power and density to compare the local melting position and melting temperature on the surface of the metal part, while accurately controlling it, so that other parts of the metal workpiece will not have performance changes due to temperature increases. On this basis, the cutting accuracy and the performance of metal materials can be more stably guaranteed.


3.3 Good processing quality


The laser cutting incision is narrow, only 0.2~0.8 mm. The verticality on both sides of the incision is very good. There are few burrs on the surface of the metal workpiece. The cutting surface is very smooth and beautiful. The surface roughness is only tens of microns. The cutting section is vertical, and there is no need for secondary grinding and polishing. After processing, the parts can be directly used in production. After laser cutting the material, the heat-affected zone of the material is very narrow and hardly affects the performance of the material near the cutting seam. This ensures minimal deformation of the workpiece. Its cutting accuracy is high, and the cutting seam is a relatively regular rectangle with good geometric shape. Therefore, after laser processing is completed, there is no need to polish, rust remove and correct the metal workpiece, which further improves the efficiency of metal processing.


3.4 Low consumption and environmentally friendly


The consumables of the laser cutting machine only include the cutting head, protective lens and ceramic ring. The consumables consumption is only 2/3 of that of plasma cutting, with low cost and good economic benefits. Compared with traditional welding technology, its development space is very huge. In the process of metal cutting, less harmful gases and dust are generated during the welding process, the light is not very strong, the noise is very small, and the environmental protection is very good. On this basis, it protects the health and life safety of staff, is very friendly to on-site workers, reduces the possibility of occupational diseases, and reduces the company’s carbon emissions. In the current increasingly severe environmental protection situation, its advantages are highlighted.

4 Application prospects of laser cutting technology in marine engineering plate cutting

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There is no direct contact between the laser cutting machine and the material, and there is no direct cutting force. There is no deformation of the material after processing; there is no tool wear, and the material adaptability is good; no matter the shape of the part is simple or complex, the laser can perform fast and accurate cutting; at the same time , Laser cutting can also realize automatic layout and nesting of cutting materials, which further improves the utilization rate of materials, reduces production costs, and improves the economic benefits of the enterprise.
When laser technology is used in marine engineering plate cutting, the following aspects should be focused on to enhance the scope and depth of application of laser technology. First, establish a three-in-one cutting system of laser cutting, plasma cutting, and flame cutting. Laser cutting machines are responsible for cutting plates of PL20 and below, plasma cutting machines are mainly used for cutting plates of PL20mm~PL35mm, and flame cutting machines are used for cutting plates of PL35mm and above. Taking the conventional modules of domestic projects as an example, the weight of medium and thin plates (including decks) of PL20 and below accounts for 64% of the total weight of the plates, and the quantity accounts for 78% of the total quantity. The cutting demand is huge, and laser cutting machines are widely used in medium and thin plate cutting. Highly efficient. To this end, we have established a three-dimensional cutting system with laser cutting as an emerging force and including flame cutting and plasma cutting to meet differentiated cutting needs and improve on-site construction efficiency. Second, laser cutting is preferred for hole cutting. Laser cutting has extremely small cutting gaps, very high precision, small heat-affected zone, smooth cutting end face without burrs, fast cutting speed, smooth cuts, and does not require post-processing. The cutting is less affected by heat and the plate deformation is small. Cutting can be used first Flange end faces, equipment base plate openings, small load lifting point openings, etc. can reduce the number of machining and reduce enterprise costs. Third, laser processing should be promoted towards unmanned and automated development. Improving processing efficiency, unmanned operation and automation are also the directions for laser processing efforts to reduce labor consumption. At the same time, only by using related technologies such as network control, automatic control, and computer production assistance as the basis can laser processing technology achieve breakthrough development. It can be seen that it is necessary to further establish and improve the technical supporting facilities so that laser processing can smoothly achieve unmanned and automated processes. Fourth, the application of laser marking technology. The laser cutting machine also has a laser marking function, which is also one of the very good applications of laser processing. Laser marking uses high-energy-density laser light to irradiate the surface of the workpiece, causing the surface material to vaporize or chemically react to change color, leaving a permanent mark. Laser marking can print a variety of different characters, symbols, patterns, etc. The size of the characters can be adjusted, ranging from millimeters to microns. Marking is performed while cutting, which is of great significance to the continuous tracking of materials and reduces workers’ manual work. Indicated workload and error rate. In the 24-hour workshop operation, night shifts can be used for laser marking to improve the overall cutting efficiency.

5 Conclusion

In summary, the application of automation technology in oil and gas field surface engineering construction reduces the number of laborers and helps save labor costs through the high efficiency of automation technology operation. Data from various devices can be recorded and monitored remotely, which can reduce employee labor intensity. It can timely and accurately predict possible problems, avoid some accidents, and improve the safety of oil and gas surface engineering. The production process can be optimized, the occupation of land resources can be reduced, the oil field production process can be monitored, and the oil field production situation can be grasped in real time, further improving the level of oil field management.

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Ask For A Quick Quote

We will contact you within 1 working day, please pay attention to the email with the suffix “@jqlaser.com”. 

Ask For A Quick Quote

We will contact you within 1 working day, please pay attention to the email with the suffix “@jqlaser.com”.