Laser cutting is generally used for the following purposes:

1) Laser vaporization cutting uses a high-energy density laser beam to heat the workpiece, causing the temperature to rise rapidly and reach the boiling point of the material in a short time. The material begins to evaporate, forming steam. The injection speed of these vapors is very high, forming notches on the material. The evaporation heat of materials is generally large, so laser evaporation cutting requires a lot of power and density.

Laser vaporization cutting is mainly used for cutting extremely thin metal materials and non-metallic materials (such as paper, cloth, wood, plastic, rubber, etc.).

2) During laser melting and cutting, the metal material is heated and melted by a laser, and then non oxidizing gases (Ar, He, N, etc.) are sprayed using a nozzle coaxial with the beam. The liquid metal is discharged by the strong pressure of the gas, forming a cut. Laser melting cutting does not require complete evaporation of metal, and the required energy is only 1/10 of that of evaporation cutting.

Laser melting cutting is mainly used for cutting materials or active metals that are not easily oxidized, such as stainless steel, titanium, aluminum, and their alloys.

3) The principle of laser oxygen cutting is similar to that of oxygen acetylene cutting. Using laser as the heat source and active gases such as oxygen as the cutting gas. On the one hand, the blown gas undergoes an oxidation reaction with the cutting metal, releasing a large amount of oxidation heat; On the other hand, molten oxides and molten substances are blown out of the reaction zone, forming notches in the metal. Due to the large amount of heat generated by the oxidation reaction during the cutting process, the energy required for laser oxygen cutting is only half of that for melting cutting, and the cutting speed is much faster than that of laser vaporization cutting and melting cutting. Laser oxygen cutting is mainly used for easily oxidizable metal materials such as carbon steel, titanium steel, and heat treated steel.

4) Laser slices and controlled fracture laser slices use high-energy density lasers to scan the surface of brittle materials, causing the material to evaporate into small grooves, and then apply a certain pressure, causing brittle materials to crack along the small grooves. The laser used for laser sheet is usually a Q-switching CO2 laser.

The controlled fracture is to use the steep temperature distribution generated by laser grooving to generate local thermal stress in the brittle material, so that the material breaks along the small groove.