Main types of laser cutting technology
Vaporization cutting
Vaporization cutting is the most widely used cutting form in laser cutting technology. The laser power density used in this cutting technology is high. Once the laser is irradiated on the mechanical workpiece, except for a few Part of it will be reflected, and most of it will be successfully absorbed and converted into heat energy, causing the surface of the workpiece to reach the boiling temperature in a short time and forming a keychain on its surface. In addition, due to surface oxidation and other effects, the absorption rate will be greatly increased, and the ejected steam will effectively take away a large amount of molten material, prompting the material to vaporize into incisions. Vaporization cutting technology is usually used in pulse lasers, and machinery manufacturing and processing personnel will use it to cut non-melting materials, plastics, wood, and ceramic dicing.
Melting cutting
Melting cutting also has certain requirements for laser power. It must be able to cut and process the keychain on the surface of the workpiece. Different from vaporization cutting, the melted material under melting cutting is not removed by the vaporization process, but needs to be used. Auxiliary gas is used for effective purging. Fusion cutting does not face the problem of vapor emission and absorption of the laser beam. The laser beam only interacts with the material on the front side when moving within the kerf gap. In addition, because the laser beam in the form of melting cutting is projected onto the bevel of the light-receiving workpiece material at a relatively large angle, the actual absorbed laser energy cannot sustain melting [1], so the melting process needs to be carried out step by step, and the final cutting will form a wavy pattern. The laser power used in melting cutting is much smaller than that of vaporization cutting. It is mainly used on materials that can react exothermically with oxygen, such as common aluminum, copper, etc. The auxiliary gases used include various inert gases, inert gases, etc. gas.
Reactive melting cutting
The essence of reactive melting cutting is to effectively heat the workpiece material to the ignition point by using a laser beam, and generate an exothermic reaction with the material based on industrial pure oxygen, eventually releasing a large amount of heat, and the material at the incision will oxidize and burn to generate molten oxide After that, while being blown away to form a cut, the heat released can also be supplied to adjacent materials, causing other materials to also reach the ignition point, thus ensuring the continuous progress of reactive melting cutting. The laser power required for reactive fusion cutting is smaller, only 1/20 of that of vaporization cutting. It is widely used by machinery manufacturing companies for cutting steel and titanium materials.
Development of laser cutting technology
Laser cutting technology has been widely used in various industries and is still developing in new directions. For example, the arc-assisted laser cutting technology used in the field of mechanical manufacturing uses laser light to illuminate the back of the mechanical workpiece, causing it to effectively generate hot spots on it, thereby ensuring that the arc is more concentrated. Based on the action of arc-assisted laser cutting, the arc energy can maximize the fluidity of the residue, which can achieve a sharp increase in laser cutting speed. Under normal circumstances, when machinery manufacturing and processing personnel use arc-assisted laser cutting technology to cut a 4mm-thick low-carbon steel plate, the actual laser power will reach 1500W and the arc power will reach 3000W. When the oxygen pressure reaches a certain amount, the laser cutting speed will reach 52mm/s. Another example is the water-cooled laser cutting technology first proposed in 1988. This technology uses a carbon dioxide laser to cut 2mm steel plates at high speed during the laser cutting process, and maintains a certain amount of water pressure during cutting. The laser beam is At 1mm, cutting and cooling with water can achieve the corresponding value. High-power CO laser cutting technology uses CO2 lasers, and the actual wavelength reaches 10.6μm. In the process of mechanical manufacturing and processing, because the workpiece metal has a high emissivity to laser with a wavelength of 10.6 μm, mechanical manufacturing and processing personnel hope to use lasers with shorter wavelengths. The wavelength of CO laser is 5μm, and its power has reached a level exceeding tens of millions of watts. Under the same power, CO2 laser cutting can only cut low carbon steel plates with a thickness of 20mm, but when workers use CO laser cutting, they can effectively cut low carbon steel plates with a thickness of 70mm. This shows that this laser cutting technology Have better development prospects.
The practical application of laser cutting technology in machinery manufacturing.
When applying laser cutting technology, a high-energy-density laser beam is used to irradiate the mechanical workpiece, causing the temperature of the area irradiated by the laser beam to rise significantly, so that the workpiece material will be vaporized and the steam will be quickly discharged. , or after melting, the slag and liquid material are discharged under the action of other auxiliary gases, and finally a slit is formed. Laser cutting technology can be practically applied to different metal materials such as titanium alloy, steel and aluminum alloy, and can also be used to process non-metallic materials such as glass, plastic and ceramics. Laser cutting operation is a non-contact processing, and the mechanical workpiece will not be deformed. The laser incision on the workpiece is relatively narrow, and the surface of the incision can maintain good smoothness and aesthetics. In addition, the application of laser cutting in machinery manufacturing also has the advantages of fast cutting efficiency, high flexibility and low cost. Therefore, modern machinery manufacturing enterprises must attach great importance to bringing into play the role of this advanced processing and manufacturing technology and comprehensively improve the level of manufacturing and processing of mechanical workpieces.
Laser cutting technology is applied to metal workpiece processing.
When machinery manufacturing personnel process metal workpieces, they usually use small batches and multiple varieties instead of stamping. And if the batch size is less than 50,000, then the mechanical manufacturing and processing personnel can give priority to using laser cutting technology to process and produce metal workpieces. This can help the enterprise create the greatest economic benefits at the lowest cost and realize the enterprise’s Stable and sustainable development of manufacturing production and construction. Under normal circumstances, the accuracy of laser cutting technology to process metal workpieces can reach about 0.1mm, which has exceeded the processing accuracy of traditional molds for metal workpieces. For example, in my country’s automobile market, there are automobile manufacturers that use advanced laser cutting technology to process and manufacture small batches of multiple varieties of steel plate parts, and can achieve good cutting processing results. At the same time, some machinery manufacturing companies also use laser cutting technology when processing and producing metal workpieces such as gas turbine hot gas components and helicopter blades.
Laser cutting technology is used in mechanical mold manufacturing.
Machinery manufacturing companies can usually achieve good accuracy when cutting steel plates below 6mm by using laser cutting technology. In the process of mechanical manufacturing and processing, laser cutting technology is widely used in mechanical mold manufacturing and production, which is mainly reflected in the following aspects:
(1) Mechanical manufacturing and processing personnel use laser cutting technology to cut and process steel plates to manufacture laminated molds. Machinery manufacturing and processing personnel can take advantage of laser cutting of steel plates below 6mm to achieve high precision to develop and produce laminated molds. The cost of this laser mold is usually only one-third of that of traditional molds, so it can help machinery manufacturing companies create more economic benefits. For example, Japan’s famous Tamura Machinery Co., Ltd. uses laminated molds to punch low-carbon steel products below 3.2mm, and its accuracy can effectively reach ±0.01mm;
(2) Machinery manufacturing and processing personnel use laser cutting technology to cut and manufacture thin plates. Stacked three-dimensional forming mold. While applying laser cutting technology, workers need to operate computer-aided design software and computer-aided manufacturing software to manufacture and process three-dimensional molds. This kind of molds are widely used in metal mold casting and plastic molding.
Application of laser cutting technology to non-metallic material products
By applying laser cutting technology to the processing of non-metallic material products, the product processing and production time can be minimized and the production and processing quality of non-metallic workpieces can be fully guaranteed. Compared with traditional plate processing technology, the application of laser cutting technology can effectively increase the cutting speed and ensure that any shape can be cut according to the shape requirements of the product without leaving excessively wide incisions. In general, non-metallic materials have a higher absorption rate of laser, which undoubtedly has better basic conditions for the application of laser cutting technology. For example, laser cutting of templates, regeneration of diamond wire drawing after wear, and drilling of shaft holes for watch gemstones are all typical practical cases of the application of laser cutting technology in non-metallic material products [4]. Modern machinery manufacturing and processing plants can reasonably introduce laser cutting technology that applies their own needs according to their own product production quality requirements, helping machinery manufacturing and processing personnel better improve the quality of finished product production and processing, and reduce their workload.
Conclúid
To sum up, today, with the development of science and technology, the innovation and improvement of laser cutting technology has been widely used. Modern machinery manufacturing enterprises must effectively establish advanced production work concepts, focus on the introduction and application of advanced technologies, improve the machinery production and processing system, and improve their own mechanical workpiece processing and manufacturing levels. As an advanced mechanical manufacturing and processing technology, laser cutting technology has the advantages of high cutting efficiency, high precision and high quality. Therefore, the majority of enterprises must strengthen in-depth research and application of this technology to ensure that its actual value can be maximized. effect.
