Laser cutting is to use a high-power laser beam to scan the surface of the material to be cut, heat the material to several thousand to tens of thousands of degrees Celsius in a very short time, quickly melt or vaporize the material, and then use high-pressure gas to melt or vaporize the material. Blow away from the kerf for the purpose of cutting the material. The advantages of laser cutting are:

1.There is no direct contact between the laser head and the surface of the material, and the cutting process will not cause scratches on the surface of the material;

2.The laser cutting speed is fast, the incision is smooth and flat, and generally no follow-up processing is required;

3.The high concentration of the laser beam has a small heat-affected area of the plate, the deformation of the plate is small, and the slit is narrow (0.1mm~0.3mm); the incision has no mechanical stress and no shear burr;

4.High machining accuracy, good repeatability, no damage to the surface of the material; CNC programming;

5.It can process any plan, and can cut the whole board with a large format without opening the mold, which is economical and time-saving.

Plasma cutting uses compressed air as the working gas, high temperature and high speed plasma arc as the heat source, partially melts the metal to be cut, and at the same time blows the melted metal away with high-speed airflow to form a narrow slit. Plasma cutting has some similar advantages to laser cutting and is currently widely used in sheet metal processing and industrial production.

In this way, many people may not be able to easily distinguish the advantages of the two cutting methods. Let’s make a comparison below.

1.Laser cutting is much more precise than plasma cutting, the heat affected zone is much smaller, and the kerf is much smaller, the plasma energy can reach within 1mm, and the laser energy can reach within 0.2mm;

2.The heat-affected zone of plasma cutting is relatively large, and the slit is relatively wide, which is not suitable for cutting thin plates, because the plates will be deformed due to heat, and laser cutting machines can handle both thin plates and thick plates.

3.The purchase price of the laser cutting machine is a little more expensive than that of the plasma cutting machine, and the later use and maintenance costs are also slightly more expensive than the laser cutting machine. For this reason, the plasma cutting machine still has a large market.

The above is a comparison of the advantages of laser cutting and plasma cutting. I believe everyone can have a basic understanding. If you have higher requirements for the quality of processed products, it is more suitable to choose laser cutting.

Eveline Liu

Email: xintian131@xtlaser.com

TEL: +86 17806210565