There are two popular types of machines in the laser cutting machine market. One is a fiber laser cutting machine, and the other is a Co2 laser cutting machine. The Co2 laser cutting machine has traditionally occupied a mainstream position, while in recent years, fiber optic cutting machines have become popular in the market and are becoming increasingly popular. But do you know the difference between these two machines? Which machines can meet our needs, and how should we choose them?

Laser cutting machine

1. First, let's understand the working principles of these two types of laser cutting machines

The working principle of fiber laser cutting machine: Fiber laser cutting machine is a laser cutting machine that uses a fiber laser generator as the light source. Fiber laser cutting machine is a new type of fiber laser that can output high energy density laser beams and concentrate them on the surface of the workpiece, causing the workpiece to instantly melt and vaporize in the area illuminated by ultra-fine focal spot light. The CNC mechanical system moves the position of the light spot to achieve automatic cutting, with fast speed and high accuracy.

The working principle of CO2 laser cutting machine is that the laser power drives the laser tube to emit light, which is refracted by several mirrors to transmit it to the laser head. Then, the focusing mirror laser head installed on the laser head converges the light into a point that can reach extremely high temperature, causing the material to instantly sublimate into gas, which is sucked away by the suction fan, thus achieving the purpose of cutting.

2. The working principles of two types of laser cutting machines determine the application areas they excel in

The wavelength of the CO2 laser is 10.6um, and the wavelength of the fiber laser is 1.06um. The former is more easily absorbed by non-metals and can cut high-quality non-metallic materials such as wood, acrylic, PP, and organic glass. Fiber laser cutting machines can only cut metals and cannot cut non-metals such as fabrics, leather, stones, etc. The reason is simple. The wavelength range of fiber laser cutting machines is not within the absorption range of the above-mentioned materials, or the absorption is not suitable, which cannot achieve the ideal cutting effect. Currently, the application advantages of fiber laser cutting machines in non-metal cutting are not very obvious.

3. So which laser cutting machine should we choose?

Of course, we need to choose based on the material and machine application area.

Fiber laser cutting machines are widely used in industries such as electronics, electrical appliances, mechanical hardware, new energy equipment, solar energy, LED, and automobiles. Proficient in processing common metal products in daily life, such as advertising metal characters, kitchen utensils, environmental protection equipment, etc. Widely used in stainless steel, carbon steel, alloy steel, copper, brass, silicon steel, galvanized steel, nickel titanium alloy, chromium nickel iron alloy, titanium alloy, etc.

CO2 laser cutting machine can carve and cut various nonmetals, such as acrylic, marble, wood, density board, plywood, textiles, leather, glass, paper, etc. It is widely used in many industries, such as handicrafts and gifts, souvenirs, Chinese Paper Cuttings, billboards, clothing, furniture, etc.

CO2 laser cutting machine&fiber laser cutting machine

So what about cutting both metallic and non-metallic materials?

Buying two machines is certainly a choice, but a two in one machine has more advantages in cost and space utilization. Jinan Youben Machinery Co., Ltd. produces two types of machines that can cut metal and non-metal.

1. One type is a hybrid laser cutting machine. This machine uses a CO2 laser as the laser source, and adds a laser head that can cut metal on top of the standard CO2 laser machine. This hybrid metal laser cutting machine can be widely used for cutting non-metallic materials and metal plates, with smooth cutting edges and no burrs.

This machine has fast processing speed, high accuracy, and high efficiency. Fast operation speed, real-time adjustable laser energy, and very simple operation. Most custom machine sizes are 1390/1610/1325/1530, but other sizes can be negotiated if needed.

2. Another model is a hybrid model, which combines two laser sources, a fiber laser generator and a carbon dioxide laser tube, on a single machine for cutting. Two sets of systems are used to control the fiber laser cutting head and the carbon dioxide laser cutting head, respectively, to achieve metal and non-metal cutting.

The CO2&fiber two in one metal non-metal laser cutting machine adopts a double gantry structure, which has the advantage of being equipped with two independent control systems to control the fiber laser and CO2 laser respectively.

So with two heads, metal materials can be processed using fiber optic laser heads, and non-metallic materials can be processed using carbon dioxide laser cutting heads. One machine has more functions and is more cost-effective than purchasing two machines separately.