Thermal cutting: laser cutting
Thermal cutting using a laser beam as a heat source works similarly to laser welding. The laser cutting temperature exceeds 11000 ° C, enough to vaporize any material, so in laser cutting, in addition to melting, gasification also plays an important role. The laser cutting process of some materials (such as carbon and some ceramics) is purely a gasification process. Laser cutting of metals uses high-power carbon dioxide continuous lasers. When cutting, the inert gas flow is sprayed, and the slit is melted to melt the metal, so that the slit is smooth and straight; the oxygen flow can be increased to increase the cutting speed. The laser-cut incision is narrow, precise in size, smooth in surface and superior in quality to any other thermal cutting method. Almost all metal materials can be laser cut and can be cut from a few microns of foil to a 50 mm sheet. However, laser cutting equipment is highly invested, mainly for precision cutting of stainless steel, titanium and titanium alloys, refractory metals and precious metals of various thicknesses below 12 mm, and also for non-metals such as plastics, wood, cloth, graphite and ceramics. The cutting of materials, such as the wood processing industry, has used laser cutting of plywood and particleboard, and the clothing industry has used a large number of cutting materials. In addition, laser cutting is also suitable for some special purposes, such as jewel bearing drilling, surgeons using laser as a scalpel.