There are three major consumables for fiber laser cutting machine: protective lens, nozzle and ceramic ring. These three kinds of consumables can be seen everywhere in the market, but the prices are uneven, even wide gap. Customers often ask related questions, especially ceramic ring, which prices vary from tens of yuan to 6700 yuan. Why? Let's take ceramic ring as an example.

The ceramic ring consists of three parts: ceramic body, copper needle and stainless steel sheet.

To make a low-cost ceramic ring, one is to save materials: ceramic body with aluminum oxide, copper needle without gold plating, and stainless steel sheet with simplified processing flow; The second is to save the process: simplify the processing process and reduce the inspection process, so that the cost of the ceramic ring made will be greatly reduced, and it will be easy to make money by selling it at a low price!

Ceramic body is the main accessory of ceramic ring. At present, ceramic bodies on the market are mainly made of two kinds of materials: zirconia and alumina. Although there is only a word difference, their prices are different from each other: the price of zirconia is several times that of alumina! The original ceramic ring of Precitec is the ceramic body of zirconia raw material. Compared with alumina, it has higher density, wear resistance, low coefficient of thermal expansion, high resistivity, high surface finish and resistance to falling after polishing. After the ceramic body is bonded with the stainless steel sheet, it is not easy to deform after being heated, and can ensure stable signal transmission; High surface finish, smooth airflow, and better cutting effect.

The stainless steel sheet is a component that looks easy but is difficult to make. We have made a comparison. Some low quality ceramic ring stainless steel sheets can be seen from the front! To ensure that the very thin stainless steel sheet will not be deformed after being heated, it needs to go through four processes (the specific process involves the process, which will not be described in detail here). Many factories will simplify it to two or three, and the result is that the ceramic ring will be scrapped due to the deformation of the stainless steel sheet soon after use!

The copper needle is also a key component, and the transmission of electrical signals depends on it. To improve the conductivity, the effective means is to gild, and the copper needle of some companies is only pure copper, and gilding is directly omitted!

There is another material that must be mentioned: conductive silver glue. The main body of the ceramic ring is bonded together by it. This kind of glue should not only have good strength, high conductivity, but also be able to withstand high temperature. Without good glue, after polishing, high temperature test and torque test, the proportion of ceramic rings that can pass the conduction test will not exceed 60%, while 40% that fail the test can only be scrapped and cannot be reworked!

After the above introduction, we also know how the low-cost ceramic ring is made, but it can not guarantee its life and cutting effect, and may even lead to greater losses caused by laser head collision.

In view of the chaotic price situation in the market, we have made a certain comparison. The price of the original ceramic ring is indeed on the high side, especially the original imported ceramic ring, but there are also some domestic ceramic rings with relatively stable performance, the price is generally around 200 or 300 yuan, of course, there are many cases of shoddy goods.

Although the consumables such as nozzle, protective lens and ceramic ring are very small, they are all important consumables for laser cutting machine. Choosing the right product is not necessarily good, but must ensure the quality, so as to protect the laser cutting!