Laser cutting is a non-contact cutting process for both metallic and non-metallic materials. Whether metal, plastics, glass, ceramics, wood, or paper – a wide variety of materials can be cut by laser. Even complex plate-shaped or three-dimensional materials can be cut without any application of force or mechanical post-processing but with exact tolerances.
What is laser cutting?
The laser has become an indispensable high-tech tool in today’s manufacturing industry. Laser cutting in particular can hardly be surpassed in terms of precision. It enables non-contact processing of almost all material groups, even the most diverse cutting tasks can be realised at the highest quality level. Whether plate-shaped materials or three-dimensional geometries – the laser cuts through metal, plastic, paper, or stone to the nearest micrometre. Especially in the field of thin sheet processing, laser cutting is highly economical: a wide variety of contours and high cutting speeds are possible, not requiring any secondary finishing.
How does Laser cutting work?
The laser cuts, welds, drills, or inscribes. The cutting tool is a focused laser beam generated by means of gas or crystal. Through a lens system, a kind of burning glass, the light beam is amplified and concentrated precisely on a tiny area on the workpiece: a high energy density arises. Where the light beam hits, the material melts or vaporises, and the cutting process begins. The removed material is blown out of the kerf by a jet of gas that exits the nozzle together with the laser beam. The laser power and the cutting speed can be flexibly adapted to the material to be processed as well as to the current material thickness.
How is a laser constructed?
Modern laser cutting systems provide a high level of performance and enable the processing of almost all sheet formats and material thicknesses from a wide range of materials. Lasers are radiation sources with extremely focused beams. Their most important system components are the laser source, the laser beam guidance, and the focusing optics with cutting nozzle. Lasers are differentiated according to the signal form (continuous wave or pulsed laser) and the type of laser medium (gas, dye, solid-state, or FEL laser). However, the mode of operation of the individual laser types is always similar: light amplification is achieved by absorption and radiation of energy. The resonator focuses the light beam and generates a high current density. Most laser systems are modular and can be quickly and easily retrofitted with additional modules at any time.
What types of laser cutter are there?
Depending on the material, application, and the laser’s mode of action, laser cutting can be divided into different processes:
- Vaporisation cutting
In this process, the material is melted by the laser beam along the contour to be cut. The melt produced during the cutting process is blown out with a gas jet under high pressure. The energy of the laser beam is supplied with pinpoint accuracy, and the cutting quality depends on factors such as focus position, cutting speed, intensity distribution, and gas pressure. - Laser beam oxygen cutting
This kind of cutting works similarly to fusion cutting and is mostly used when cutting large thicknesses of material. With a high-energy laser beam, the material is heated to ignition temperature, the burnt oxides are blown out of the kerf with an oxygen jet. With water-jet guided lasers, the heat influence on the edges can be significantly reduced. - 2D Laser cutting
2D laser processing is used in particular for plate-shaped materials; a fast and cost-effective processing is possible almost regardless of the material. Even blanks with complex structures and geometries can be cut, regardless of the material thickness, and optimum edge quality and dimensional accuracy are always guaranteed. Even the smallest quantities can be produced at an economical price and with high quality. - 3D Laser cutting
3D laser cutting offers almost unlimited possibilities and is used where complex 3D geometries have to be produced with absolute dimensional accuracy. Several operations such as punching, slitting, trimming, or the insertion of contours of any kind can be carried out in one single clamping. In this way, even the most complex deep-drawn parts, housings, tubes, profiles, or hollow bodies can be produced economically and with high precision. - Laser sublimation cutting
In sublimation, the material vaporises under very high heat generation, the resulting vapours are immediately blown out during the cutting process – the gas jet is not used here to blow out the kerf, but to protect the sensitive lenses and mirrors. It prohibits the formation of material melt. With this procedure, both organic and inorganic materials can be cut precisely and safely. In addition, laser cuts are always burr-free which eliminates the need for mechanical reworking. - Melt and blow
In sublimation, the material vaporises under very high heat generation, the resulting vapours are immediately blown out during the cutting process – the gas jet is not used here to blow out the kerf, but to protect the sensitive lenses and mirrors. This also prevents the formation of material melt. In this way, both organic and inorganic materials can be cut precisely and safely. In addition, the laser cuts are always burr-free, which eliminates the need for mechanical reworking. - Laser fine cutting
CNC-controlled cutting with dimensional accuracy in the micro range is used for the machining of sheet metal, tubes, and 3D components with a maximum material thickness of 2 mm. In this way, smallest parts for the watch and jewellery industry, apparatus engineering, or medical technology can be manufactured extremely flexibly and highly dynamically.
Advantages and applications of laser cutting
Laser cutting enables non-contact, precise processing of all fusible materials up to 50 mm thick in a wide variety of shapes. The technical complexity varies depending on the material group. Different laser systems are also used so that metal, plastic, paper, wood, leather etc. can be cut with perfect cutting quality, burr-free and without further mechanical processing.
Laser cutting requires strict occupational safety measures and is associated with high equipment and energy costs. Nevertheless, it has a high value in today’s manufacturing industry, also at Retero GmbH, as almost all materials can be cut at the highest quality level and with high cutting speeds. Our customers benefit from many years of experience and a lot of know-how. Since several work steps can be carried out in a single pass, maximum flexibility as well as a convincing price-performance ratio can be achieved. On request via info@retero.ch, we will tell you what is technically possible.