Mar. 17, 2025
Machinery
The laser cutting process uses a tightly focused high-energy light/radiation laser beam to create rapid, high-temperature-gradient heating of a single, small-diameter spot. This triggers rapid melting/vaporization of the target material, allowing the spot to travel down through the material thickness rapidly and precisely.
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The hot spot is blasted with gas, blowing away the melted/vaporized material. This process exposes the cut bottom to allow renewed melting and localized cooling, enabling the cut to proceed. For lighter and more reactive metals, the gas assist uses nitrogen to minimize oxidation. Alternatively, for steel, oxygen assistance accelerates the cut process by locally oxidizing material to assist in slag clearance and reduce the reattachment of melted/cut material.
Laser cutting machines are built in a variety of formats. The most common type keeps the workpiece stationary while laser optics (mirrors) move in both the X and Y axes. Alternatively, a 'fixed optic' format keeps the laser head stationary and the workpiece moves. A third option is a hybrid of the two previous methods. All methods execute 2D and 2.5D G-code patterns using a computer-controlled programming system to deliver fully automated, complex cutting paths. Figure 1 is an example of a laser cutting process:
Laser cutting advantages include: high precision, no material contamination, high speed, unlimited 2D complexity, a wide variety of materials, and a wide variety of applications and industries.
The narrowness of the energy beam and the precision with which the material and/or the laser optics can be moved ensures extremely high cutting quality. Laser cutting allows the execution of intricate designs that can be cut at high feed rates, even in difficult or fragile material substrates.
Traditional rotary cutter processing of materials requires coolants to be applied. The coolant can contaminate the cut parts, which must then be de-greased. Grinding processes may also require coolant/lubricant to be applied. The ablation of the grinding wheel, a natural part of the process, leaves carbide granules that are a hazard in many products. Similarly, water cutting leaves garnet residues. Laser cutting involves only energy and gases and poses no risk of material contamination of the resulting parts.
Few production methods can come close in processing speed to laser cutting. The ability to cut a 40 mm steel sheet using a 12 kW oxygen-assisted laser provides speeds some 10x faster than a bandsaw and 50'100 times faster than wire cutting.
Laser cutting allows intricacy through the nature of the G-code movement control method of positioning and the small size of the applied energy hot spot. Features that are only weakly attached to the main body are cut without any application of force, so the process is essentially limited by material properties, rather than process capabilities.
Laser cutting is a flexible technology that can be adapted to cut widely different materials efficiently, including: acrylic and other polymers, stainless steel, mild steel, titanium, hastelloy, and tungsten. This versatility is increasing as technology develops. For example, dual frequency lasers can be applied to cut carbon fiber reinforced composites'one frequency for the fiber, one for the bonding agent.
Laser cutting finds application in many manufacturing industries because of the combination of versatility, high processing speeds, and precision. Sheet materials are key to production across most manufacturing industries. Applications of laser cutting across industries include: airframes, ships, medical implants, electronics, prototyping, and mass production.
Laser cutting disadvantages include: limitations on material thickness, harmful gases and fumes, high energy consumption, and upfront costs.
Most laser cutting machines sit in the <6 kW range. Their cut depth is limited to ~12 mm in metal thickness'and they accomplish that only slowly (~10 mm/s). It requires the largest and most powerful machines to reach the practical limits of cutting. However, similar limits apply to waterjet and wire erosion cutting. All three processes perform these deeper cuts faster than can otherwise be achieved.
While many materials'particularly metals'do not produce harmful gases in the cutting process, many polymers and some metals do. For example, PTFE and various fluoropolymers produce phosgene gas (which is incompatible with human environments) when heated to high temperatures. These materials require controlled atmosphere processing.
Laser cutting machines have a higher energy consumption rate than other cutting tools. A 3-axis CNC machine cutting out 40 mm steel plate blanks will consume around 1/10th of the power of a laser cutting machine extracting the same part. However, if the processing time is 1 minute on the laser cutter and 20 minutes on the CNC, the net power usage is 2:1 in favor of the laser cutter. Each part will have a different profile in this regard, but the differentials are rarely simple to analyze.
The alternatives to laser cutting are wire cutting, plasma cutting, waterjet cutting, and CNC machining.
Plasma cutting is similar to electrical discharge machining (EDM) in that it erodes material by applying an arc to ablate the substrate. However, the arc is conducted from an electrode on a superheated gas plasma stream that directs the arc and blasts out the molten material from the cut. Plasma cutting and laser cutting are similar in that both are capable of cutting metal parts. Additionally, plasma cutting is suited to heavy materials and relatively coarse processing, for example, preparing heavy steel components for architectural and ship projects. It is a much less clean process and generally requires significant post-cut cleanup to make presentable parts, unlike laser cutting.
Waterjet cutting is typically a small machine process for the precise processing of a wide range of materials. The garnet abrasive employed is considerably harder than the majority of processed materials, but the hardest workpieces do pose a challenge for the process. Waterjet cannot match the processing speeds of laser cutting on thicker, hard substrates. In terms of similarities, both waterjet cutting and laser cutting produce high-quality cut parts, are suitable for working with many materials, and both processes have a small kerf (cut) width.
CNC machining is considered one of the more traditional methods of extracting parts from flat material stock. It is similar to laser cutting in that both produce high-precision parts, are fast, reliable, and provide excellent repeatability. Compared to laser cutting, CNC requires more setup and more processing time. CNC also delivers lower throughput/capacity and requires greater manual intervention. However, results can be of similar quality, albeit at a generally higher cost. Rotating cutting tools apply considerable forces to the cut material and can result in more extensive local heating. The main advantages of CNC processing are the ability to accommodate complex 3D designs and to perform partial depth (rather than through) cuts.
Laser cutting offers a number of advantages over traditional mechanical cutting methods (such as die punching or saw cutting) as well as other similar techniques, such as plasma cutting or waterjet cutting.
Many of the advantages stem from the fact that laser cutters cut with a narrow beam with a favorable wavelength and from the fact that there is a good level of energy containment in the cutting process.
Next, we'll share why these properties create advantages over other cutting methods.
Higher Accuracy and Smaller Kerf Sizes
Accuracy - The beam from laser machines is extremely focused and only touches a small surface area on the material, meaning that they produce very accurate and focused cuts. With accuracy levels of ±0.1 mm, laser cutters are often best where a high level of precision is required.
Kerf - The narrow area of focus with a laser beam also results in smaller kerf widths compared to other methods. Kerf is the width of the area of material removed during the cutting process.
The kerf laser cutting makes is barely larger than the size of the beam. It is possible to produce kerf widths as narrow as 0.1mm with laser cutting, although kerf widths vary between 0.1mm and 1mm. The kerf thickness depends on the laser cutter being used and the material being cut.
In comparison, waterjet cutting produces a kerf width of around 0.9mm, while oxy-fuel and plasma cutting produce kerf sizes of 1.1mm and 3.8mm, respectively. To compare laser cutting to manual cutting methods, mechanical or hand saws generally produce a kerf size of about 3.175mm (10x the kerf of a laser cutter).
Having a smaller kerf size has the following advantages:
High Levels of Repeatability
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Laser cutters produce complex, precision parts in a repeatable and efficient manner, and this allows manufacturers to create multiple exact copies of the same parts over large production runs or even in separate production runs.
Laser cutting machines are CNC controlled, and generally operated using complex software to optimize part path, machine speed and sheet metal utilization. As well as this, laser cutters also cut without making contact with the material they are cutting. No wear or degradation occurs at the laser cutters cutting edge, meaning that the cutting action does not vary across a production run. This compares to saw cutting, for example, where the blade may deteriorate or become misshaped during production.
This advantage applies when comparing laser cutting to mechanical cutting methods, such as saw cutting. Waterjet cutting and plasma cutting offer similar levels of repeatability as laser cutting.
Less Material Contamination in the Cut Area
Many mechanical cutting methods require cutting oils to reduce friction and otherwise aid in the cutting process. Cutting oil can, however, be tough to remove after cutting, even with the aid of processes like shot blasting. This cutting oil can hinder later processes, such as the proper adhesion of finishes or protective coatings that are applied to a part after cutting, for example.
Laser cutting does not share this drawback because there's rarely any need to use coolants or lubricants while cutting.
Limited Post-Cut Finishing Requirements
Laser cutting produces high-quality cut edges, which reduces the need for secondary finishing. In many cases, no secondary finishing is required after laser cutting.
The accurate, clean cuts that laser cutters leave usually have fewer surface imperfections related to the cutting process, such as burrs or excess material, that need to be removed after cutting. The effect of friction and wear forces that can cause surface imperfections like warping or mechanical distortions is also often avoided.
Laser cutting is often much preferable in this respect, when compared to mechanical cutting methods, such as saw cutting, shearing or drilling.
Removing surface imperfections and completing other finishing processes can significantly increase production costs. Where laser cutting avoids the use of these processes, both time and money can be saved.
As well as there being reduced need for finishing with laser cutting, there is also usually no need to clean laser cut parts after cutting. Again, this can be an advantage over other cutting methods.
Laser Cutting Offers More Flexibility
The flexibility of laser cutting presents itself in two folds.
The first is in its cutting versatility and in the broad range of custom designs and shapes that can be produced through laser cutting. Often laser cutting is the best thing for highly complex and intricate parts. When compared to other methods, such as sawing, CNC milling, flame cutting and even plasma cutting, laser cutting is much more adaptable.
Often laser cutting can quickly do in one cutting process what might need several alternative cutting processes. Certain part geometries or designs that are possible with laser cutting may not be possible at all with other methods.
As well as being able to perform many different types of cut, laser cutting can also be used for a range of different material types and thicknesses. One point worth noting, in this regard, is that laser cutting can be used to cut plastics and wood, whereas plasma cutting cannot.
Laser Cutting Offers the Best Sheet Utilization
Fig. 4: Laser Cutting Sheet Metal
As a combined result of the smaller kerf widths, lower levels of mechanical distortion, little to no surface imperfections and tighter tolerances, it's possible to cut more parts from the same sheet with laser cutting.
With laser cutting, it's possible to use as much as 94%+ of a sheet. This reduces cost and waste which translates directly to lower part costs than other cutting methods.
Fiber lasers are particularly good when it comes to sheet utilization.
Laser Cutting Provides Superior Speed
Laser cutters can reach speeds of up to inches ( cm) per minute. As such, they offer superior cutting speed compared to traditional cutting methods like wire cutting and bandsaw cutting.
Cutting with a bandsaw, for example, will take about 10 times as long as it takes with a laser cutter. Using a wire cutter may take up to 100 times the amount of time. Plasma and water jet cutting are also generally slower than laser cutting, except on very thick materials or in cases where the laser wattage is relatively low.
On top of this, the entire laser-cutting process is automated. There's no need to halt the process to adjust the sheet metal or machinery when cutting intricate parts. All these factors increase the speed of production.
Factor Laser Cutting Waterjet Cutting Plasma Cutting Mechanical Cutting Precision/Tolerances ± 0. mm ± 0. mm ± 0.254 mm - ± 0.762 mm Thicker, but depends on process Intricate Design Capabilities Most Capable Most Capable Some not possible Many not possible No Mechanical Distortion Yes Yes No, especially with thin metal sheets No No Thermal Distortion No Yes No No Material Costs (Less Waste) Yes Yes More waste than with laser and waterjet cutting High waste levels with many methods Tooling Costs None None None Sometimes Low ' Medium Volume Production X X X Yes Composite/Multi-layer Material Requires higher laser power Capable X Yes Thick Materials Not capable Capable Capable Capable Range of Suitable Materials Metals, plastic, wood, glass Metal, glass, wood Electrically conductive metals Metals, plastic, wood, glassTable 1: Comparison of Cutting Technologies: Laser, Waterjet, Plasma, and Mechanical
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