Harnessing The Power Of Lasers For Cutting And Shaping Materials

Lasers have become commonplace and the use of focused laser light has started to expand into many different industries today. They can be used in medical procedures, industrial processes, and even at home by hobbyists in the form of small cutting machines that are run by a pc and look a lot like an oversized printer.Not all lasers are created equal and depending on the use, the power and optics of the laser may be different.

Cutting With Lasers

There are many reasons that you may want to have something cut out using a laser and so many applications that we could never cover them all here. One application that has been adopted in many industries is laser cutting. On steel or other metals, a laser can be used to cut extremely small or precise holes or shape the material. The process requires an extremely hot and very focused laser and in most cases the cutter is mounted on a CNC (computer numerical control) machine that can be run through a program that will cut the material to very tight tolerances and can be repeated over and over without worrying if the parts need to be the same.

Adding Inert Gases To The Mix

In some cutting processes gas is pumped into the laser cutting head and is used to surround the tip during the cutting process. The most common gas used in laser cutting is CO2 because it effectively displaced the oxygen around the tip of the laser. Some of the materials that are cut using lasers are mild steel, aluminum, stainless steel, titanium, paper, wax, plastics, wood, and fabrics. Not all of them involve gas cutting but most metals will require it.  

How Does A Laser Cutter Remove Material

The process is not unlike that of an oxygen-acetylene torch or plasma cutter in some ways but the cuts produced can be as small as .002" on metals but varies with the type of metal being cut. A typical cut includes a piece of the material that uses a strong pulse of the laser to cut a hole through the material then the laser will begin cutting the material away. The material is heated by the laser beam until it melts, burns away, or vaporizes. Again, this is determined by the material you are working with. The cut that is left is a very clean and precise cut that cannot be accomplished with a torch or plasma cutter. Laser cutting is so effective that it can even be used to cut diamonds if the beam is focused enough and the power level is high enough. The uses are still being realized but the laser is fast becoming the tool of choice for many cutting operations in many different industries.

Contact a service, like J&E Metal Fabricators Inc, for more help.