The laser cutting machine has broken the traditional processing method and is widely used in all walks of life with a new cutting method. Users who understand the optical fiber laser cutting machine should know that it must use auxiliary gas in the cutting process, which is exactly the case. Many people are concerned about the problem of "gas".

Today, Big Picture Laser will share with you the gas used for fiber laser cutting.

Before figuring out how to select auxiliary gas, first understand why to use auxiliary gas and the role of auxiliary gas. The first is to make the auxiliary gas react with the metal material to increase the capacity strength; the second is to help the equipment blow off the slag from the cutting area and clean the cutting seam; the third is to cool the area adjacent to the cutting seam to reduce the size of the heat affected zone; the fourth is to protect the focus lens to prevent the optical lens from being contaminated by combustion products; in addition, some cutting gases can also protect the base metal. The selection of gas pressure and type has a great impact on the cutting process, and the selection of auxiliary gas type will have a certain impact on the cutting performance, including cutting speed, cutting thickness, etc.

The auxiliary gases that can be used by the laser cutting machine mainly include air, nitrogen, oxygen and argon. Next, we will introduce the use and characteristics of different auxiliary gases.

1. Air

Air can be directly supplied by air compressor, so it is very cheap compared with other gases. Although the air contains about 20% oxygen, the cutting efficiency is far less than oxygen, and the cutting capacity is similar to nitrogen. A small amount of oxide film will appear on the cutting surface, but it can be used as a measure to prevent the coating layer from falling off. The end face of the incision is yellow.

The main applicable materials are aluminum, aluminum alloy, stainless copper, brass, galvanized steel plate, non-metal, etc. When the quality requirements of cutting products are high, aluminum, aluminum alloy, stainless steel, etc. are not suitable for air, because air will oxidize the base metal.

2. Nitrogen

When some metals are cut, oxygen will form an oxide film on the cutting surface, and nitrogen can be used for non oxidizing cutting to prevent the appearance of oxide film. It can be directly welded and coated, and has strong corrosion resistance. The end face of the incision is white.

The main applicable plates are stainless steel, galvanized steel plate, brass, aluminum, aluminum alloy, etc.

3. Oxygen

It is mainly used for laser cutting carbon steel. When the oxygen thermal reaction is used to improve the cutting efficiency in a large format, the oxide film produced will improve the beam spectral absorption factor of the reflective material. The end face of the incision is black or dark yellow.

It is mainly applicable to rolled steel, rolled steel for welding structure, carbon steel for mechanical structure, high tension plate, tool plate, stainless steel, electroplated steel plate, copper, copper alloy, etc.

4. Argon

Argon is an inert gas, which is used to prevent oxidation and nitridation in laser cutting, and also used in welding. Compared with other processing gases, the price is high, which increases the cost accordingly. The end face of the incision is white.

The main applicable materials are titanium, titanium alloys, etc.

Many gases in the above contents can be used universally. The cutting cost and product requirements should be taken into account, such as cutting stainless steel materials. When there is no high requirement for product quality or surface quality, such as painting and other processing procedures in the later stage of cutting products, air can be used as the cutting gas, which can reduce many costs. When the cut product is the final product and there is no subsequent process, it is necessary to use protective gas, such as process products. Therefore, the gas must be selected according to the characteristics of the product during the cutting process.