Laser cutting is a process in which the energy of the laser beam results in local melting or melting and evaporation of cutting material. In addition, the inert or reactive gas flow is used for blows out of the cut area a material pair and molten metal.
Laser cutting mechanism is very complex and depend largely on the physical properties of the material and laser beam parameters. It acts as a linear heat source, forming a stable cutting eye. Along with moving laser beam molten metal moves in the opposite direction. The gas that is given along the beam axis at the correct pressure is removed the resulting molten metal from the gap before its solidification, and the cut edges is left only a thin layer of solidified material. The most commonly gases used to accompany this process are air, oxygen, argon and nitrogen. ZAKMET uses nitrogen – it is also one of the most popular gases used for cutting stainless steels, aluminium alloys and a nikel to a thickness of 3,0 mm.
The main advantages of laser cutting is a very high speed of the process, limited only by the Power of the laser beam, and also the process keeps high accurancy and quality of the cutting edges. But too low speed damage the cutting edges, reducing by this quality, while excessive speed leads to a lack of intersection in the entire thickness.
Laser cutting process can be carried out manualny, but primarily used automatic and robotic systems with numerical control. The laser is increasingly used in industry for cutting various materials, both metallic and nonmetallic with thickness up to 32 mm. Companies use Nd:YAG laser with a power of 20 kW and gas CO2 by up to 40 kW. For the CO2 laser beam transmission from source to the cutting head shall be expensive and troublesome to maintain systems, and beam Nd:YAG fiber laser can be sent – the technology is new to the market, called the Fiber. Its main advantages are high efficiency, better performance, reliability, energy efficiency and durability.