Laser cutting

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Laser cutting process on a sheet of steel.

CAD (top) and stainless steel laser-cut part (bottom)

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improve this article if you can. (June 2009)

Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut materials, and is typically used for
industrial manufacturing applications, but is also starting to appear in schools. Laser cutting
works by directing the output of a high-power laser, by computer, at the material to be cut. The
material then either melts, burns, vaporizes away, or is blown away by a jet of gas,[1] leaving an
edge with a high-quality surface finish. Industrial laser cutters are used to cut flat-sheet material
as well as structural and piping materials.

Contents
[hide]

 1 Comparison to mechanical cutting

 2 Types
 3 Process
 4 Beam geometry
o 4.1 Vaporization cutting
o 4.2 Melt and blow
o 4.3 Thermal stress cracking
o 4.4 Reactive cutting
o 4.5 Tolerances and surface finish
 5 Setup and equipment
 6 Machine configurations
o 6.1 Pulsing
 7 Effects on work material properties
 8 Typical workpiece materials
 9 Factors affecting process results
 10 Production and cutting rates
 11 Cooling
 12 Power requirements
 13 Cost element
 14 See also
 15 References
o 15.1 Bibliography
 16 External links

[edit] Comparison to mechanical cutting

Advantages of laser cutting over mechanical cutting include easier workholding and reduced
contamination of workpiece (since there is no cutting edge which can become contaminated by
the material or contaminate the material). Precision may be better, since the laser beam doesn't
wear during the process. There is also a reduced chance of warping the material that is being cut,
as laser systems have a small heat-affected zone. Some materials are also very difficult or
impossible to cut by more traditional means. A disadvantage of laser cutting is the high energy
required.

[edit] Types
A diffusion cooled resonator

There are three main types of lasers used in laser cutting. The CO2 laser is suited for cutting,
boring, and engraving. The neodymium (Nd) and neodymium yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd-
YAG) lasers are identical in style and differ only in application. Nd is used for boring and where
high energy but low repetition are required. The Nd-YAG laser is used where very high power is
needed and for boring and engraving. Both CO2 and Nd/ Nd-YAG lasers can be used for
welding.[2]

Common variants of CO2 lasers include fast axial flow, slow axial flow, transverse flow, and
slab.

CO2 lasers are commonly "pumped" by passing a current through the gas mix (DC-excited) or
using radio frequency energy (RF-excited). The RF method is newer and has become more
popular. Since DC designs require electrodes inside the cavity, they can encounter electrode
erosion and plating of electrode material on glassware and optics. Since RF resonators have
external electrodes they are not prone to those problems.

In addition to the power source, the type of gas flow can affect performance as well. In a fast
axial flow resonator, the mixture of carbon dioxide, helium and nitrogen is circulated at high
velocity by a turbine or blower. Transverse flow lasers circulate the gas mix at a lower velocity,
requiring a simpler blower. Slab or diffusion cooled resonators have a static gas field that
requires no pressurization or glassware, leading to savings on replacement turbines and
glassware.

Lasing Materials Applications

Boring
CO2
Cutting/Scribing Engraving
High-energy pulses

Nd Low repetition speed (1kHz)

Boring
Very high energy pulses
Nd-YAG
Boring Engraving Trimming
[edit] Process
Generation of the laser beam involves stimulating a lasing material by electrical discharges or
lamps within a closed container. As the lasing material is stimulated, the beam is reflected
internally by means of a partial mirror, until it achieves sufficient energy to escape as a stream of
monochromatic coherent light. Mirrors or fiber optics are typically used to direct the coherent
light to a lens, which focuses the light at the work zone. The narrowest part of the focused beam
is generally less than 0.0125 in (0.3175 mm). in diameter. Depending upon material thickness,
kerf widths as small as 0.004 in (0.1016 mm) are possible.[3] In order to be able to start cutting
from somewhere else than the edge, a pierce is done before every cut. Piercing usually involves a
high-power pulsed laser beam which slowly (taking around 5–15 seconds for 1⁄2-inch-thick (13
mm) stainless steel, for example) makes a hole in the material.

There are many different methods in cutting using lasers, with different types used to cut
different material. Some of the methods are vaporization, melt and blow, melt blow and burn,
thermal stress cracking, scribing, cold cutting and burning stabilized laser cutting.

[edit] Beam geometry

The parallel rays of coherent light from the laser source may be 1/16 inch to 1/2 inch
(1.5875 mm to 12.7 mm) in diameter. This beam is normally focused and intensified by a lens or
a mirror to a very small spot of about 0.001 inch (0.0254 mm) to create a very intense laser
beam. Recent investigations reveal that the laser beam has a distinctive polarization. In order to
achieve the smoothest possible finish during contour cutting, the direction of polarization must
be rotated as it goes around the periphery of a contoured workpiece. For sheet metal cutting, the
focal length is usually between 1.5 inches and 3 inches (38.1 mm and 76.2 mm)[4]

[edit] Vaporization cutting

In vaporization cutting the focused beam heats the surface of the material to boiling point and
generates a keyhole. The keyhole leads to a sudden increase in absorptivity quickly deepening
the hole. As the hole deepens and the material boils, vapor generated erodes the molten walls
blowing eject out and further enlarging the hole. Non melting material such as wood, carbon and
thermoset plastics are usually cut by this method.

[edit] Melt and blow

Melt and blow or fusion cutting uses high-pressure gas to blow molten material from the cutting
area, greatly decreasing the power requirement. First the material is heated to melting point then
a gas jet blows the molten material out of the kerf avoiding the need to raise the temperature of
the material any further. Materials cut with this process are usually metals.

[edit] Thermal stress cracking

Brittle materials are particularly sensitive to thermal fracture, a feature exploited in thermal stress
cracking. A beam is focused on the surface causing localized heating and thermal expansion.
This results in a crack that can then be guided by moving the beam. The crack can be moved in
order of m/s. It is usually used in cutting of glass.

[edit] Reactive cutting

Also called "burning stabilized laser gas cutting", "flame cutting".

Reactive cutting is like oxygen torch cutting but with a laser beam as the ignition source. Mostly
used for cutting carbon steel in thicknesses over 1 mm. This process can be used to cut very thick
steel plates with relatively little laser power.

[edit] Tolerances and surface finish

New laser cutters have positioning accuracy of 10 micrometers and repeatability of 5

micrometers.

Standard roughness Rz increases with the sheet thickness, but decreases with laser power and
cutting speed. When cutting low carbon steel with laser power of 800 W, standard roughness Rz
is 10 μm for sheet thickness of 1 mm, 20 μm for 3 mm, and 25 μm for 6 mm. Rz =
12.528*(S^0.542)/((P^0.528)*(V^0.322)) where: S = steel sheet thickness in mm; P = laser
power in kW (Some new laser cutters have laser power of 4 kW.); V = cutting speed in meters
per minute[5]

This process is capable of holding quite close tolerances, often to within 0.001 inch (0.0254 mm)
Part geometry and the mechanical soundness of the machine have much to do with tolerance
capabilities. The typical surface finish resulting from laser beam cutting may range from 125 to
250 micro-inches (0.003175 mm to 0.00635 mm).[2]

[edit] Setup and equipment

The laser machining system consists of a power supply for producing a laser beam (Power
requirements below), a workpiece positioning table, laser material, a method of stimulation,
mirrors, and a focusing lens.

The workpiece is held stationary by clamps, straps, hold down tabs, pressure blocks, positioning
tabs, magnets, or suction cups. The focusing unit moves around the workpiece to cut the desired
shape.

[edit] Machine configurations

Dual Pallet Flying Optics Laser

Flying Optics Laserhead

There are generally three different configurations of industrial laser cutting machines: Moving
material, Hybrid, and Flying Optics systems. These refer to the way that the laser beam is moved
over the material to be cut or processed. For all of these, the axes of motion are typically
designated X and Y axis. If the cutting head may be controlled, it is designated as the Z-axis.

Moving material lasers have a stationary cutting head and move the material under it. This
method provides a constant distance from the laser generator to the workpiece and a single point
from which to remove cutting effluent. It requires fewer optics, but requires moving the
workpiece. This style machine tends to have the fewest beam delivery optics, but also tends to be
the slowest.

Hybrid lasers provide a table which moves in one axis (usually the X-axis) and move the head
along the shorter (Y) axis. This results in a more constant beam delivery path length than a flying
optic machine and may permit a simpler beam delivery system. This can result in reduced power
loss in the delivery system and more capacity per watt than flying optics machines.

Flying optics lasers feature a stationary table and a cutting head (with laser beam) that moves
over the workpiece in both of the horizontal dimensions. Flying optics cutters keep the
workpiece stationary during processing and often do not require material clamping. The moving
mass is constant, so dynamics are not affected by varying size of the workpiece. Flying optics
machines are the fastest type, which is advantageous when cutting thinner workpieces.[6]

Flying optic machines must use some method to take into account the changing beam length
from near field (close to resonator) cutting to far field (far away from resonator) cutting.
Common methods for controlling this include collimation, adaptive optics or the use of a
constant beam length axis.

The above is written about X-Y systems for cutting flat materials. The same discussion applies to
five and six-axis machines, which permit cutting formed workpieces. In addition, there are
various methods of orienting the laser beam to a shaped workpiece, maintaining a proper focus
distance and nozzle standoff, etc.

[edit] Pulsing

Pulsed lasers which provide a high-power burst of energy for a short period are very effective in
some laser cutting processes, particularly for piercing, or when very small holes or very low
cutting speeds are required, since if a constant laser beam were used, the heat could reach the
point of melting the whole piece being cut.

Most industrial lasers have the ability to pulse or cut CW (Continuous Wave) under NC
(numerical control) program control.

Double pulse lasers use a series of pulse pairs to improve material removal rate and hole quality.
Essentially, the first pulse removes material from the surface and the second prevents the ejecta
from adhering to the side of the hole or cut.[7]

[edit] Effects on work material properties

The effects on the workpiece materials is rather minimal due to the small zone of metal affected
by the laser beam. However, the effects are due to the high temperature of the laser that change
the hardness and the creation of a narrow heat-affected zone.

Work material
Effects of laser beam cutting
properties
May affect hardness
Mechanical
Narrow heat-affected zone
Physical Grain size may change
Depends on shield gas/ cutting gas. May include oxidization or other
Chemical
effects.

[edit] Typical workpiece materials

Depends on laser type.

CO2 lasers are used for industrial cutting of many materials including mild steel, aluminum,
stainless steel, titanium, paper, wax, plastics, wood, and fabrics.
YAG lasers are primarily used for cutting and scribing metals and ceramics.

[edit] Factors affecting process results

The cutting speed, feed rate, beam geometry, beam intensity, beam focusing, type of workpiece
material, and positioning accuracy all affect the tolerances and surface finish of a process.

[edit] Production and cutting rates

The production rate is limited by a number of factors. Maximum cutting rate is limited by a
number of factors, including laser power, material thickness, process type (reactive or inert,) and
material properties.

Common industrial systems (1kW+) will cut carbon steel metal from 0.020 inch to 0.5 inch
(0.508 mm and 12.7 mm) in thickness. For all intents and purposes, a laser can be up to thirty
times faster than standard sawing.

Material Thickness
Workpiece Material 0.02 0.04 0.08 0.125 0.25 0.5 in.
0.508 1.016 2.032 3.175 6.35 12.7 mm
Stainless Steel 750 550 325 10 20 -
Aluminum 800 350 150 100 40 30
Mild Steel - 177 70 40 - -
Titanium 300 300 100 80 60 40
Plywood - - - - 180 45
Boron/epoxy - - - 60 60 25

 Using a CO2 laser

 Units are in (ipm)

[edit] Cooling
The laser generator and external optics (including the focus lens) require cooling. Depending on
system size and configuration, waste heat may be transferred by a coolant or directly to air.
Water is a commonly used coolant, usually circulated through a chiller or heat transfer system.

[edit] Power requirements

Industrial laser efficiency may range from 5% to 15%. The power consumption and efficiency of
any particular laser will vary depending on output power and operating parameters. This will
depend on type of laser and how well the laser is matched to the work at hand.
The amount of laser cutting power required, known as heat input, for a particular job depends on
the material type, thickness, process (reactive/inert) used, and desired cutting rate.

Amount of heat input required for various material at various thicknesses using a CO2 laser
(watts)[8]
Material thickness (in)
Material
0.02 0.04 0.08 0.125 0.25
Stainless steel 1000 1000 1000 500 250
Aluminum 1000 1000 1000 3800 10000
Mild steel - 400 - 500 -
Titanium 250 210 210 - -
Plywood - - - - 650
Boron/epoxy - - - 3000 -

[edit] Cost element

When calculating the cost elements of a project, include things like setup time, load/ unload
times, cutting time, direct labor rate, overhead rate, and amortization of equipment and tooling.
Popularizing Rapid Prototyping
© copyright Michael Rees 1998

Rapid Prototyping depends upon CAD modeling. Solid modeling packages are preferable to RP
but many surface modeling packages work also. Their water tight iges files can be converted to a
walled .stl file. Many have realized that the popularization of RP will depend upon useable CAD
modeling programs.

To address the complexity of the CAD interface, Terry Wohlers has used the analogy of an
automobile. It is an enormously complex mechanism in which multiple processes must coincide
simultaneously to the desired effect. Yet to drive a car one need only operate a wheel, an
accelerator pedal, and a brake. Such a simple CAD interface seems impossible if not a long way
off. There are just too many variables.

There is another scenario; namely that computer users would grow in sophistication to the point
that a modeling package will be just as common place as a word processor.  That’s analogous to
expecting someone who is at ease in several romance languages to master Chinese, quickly.
They must first have the desire to do so. Do we expect the average weekend woodworker to lay
down the satisfaction of working wood (speaking romance languages) in exchange for modeling
cad objects (speaking Chinese) as their preferred hobby? How many RP professionals spend
their free time modeling “hobby” objects for RP output?

Those who must answer to quarterly reports would have a hard time justifying advertising in a
popular market for RP users. A copy shop service bureau in every major city seems a long way
off. If you’ve ever tried to tell a non expert what RP is, even in the simplest terms, and then hope
to convert that non expert to CAD, well its not an optimistic scenario. RP just looks arcane,
something for the aerospace, automotive, and medical industries to struggle with. Something
very exciting, but very remote.

There are four important developments that will contribute to a change in the esoteric aspect of
RP.

 
 ? The 3D puzzle available in toy stores.
 ? SensAble’s haptic modeling technology (http://www.sensable.com/)
 ? 3D lamination printers
 ? Nichimen Graphics’ and Nintendo’s announcement of a 3d modeling package which will
work on a Game Boy. (http://www.nichimen.com/)
The 3D Puzzle toy model goes a long way to making it easy to understand what layered
manufacture is. This toy comes as sections, which are then manually constructed to make a bust
of Nefferetiti. This kind of product plants an important seed in the public mind. It becomes a
referent, which makes elaborate concepts easy.

SensAble’s (http://www.sensable.com/) haptic modeling technology is pretty nifty. It is an input

device, much like a mouse, which employs one or two rotary arms and a pair of nimble gimbles.
You can slip your finger and your thumb into the gimbles and “feel” around a 3d space. Different
primitive objects can be stacked one upon the other, moved around and “felt” through the
gimbles. The computer model can have texture, which is also perceivable through the gimbles.
Future manifestations of the product might include a toolbox. Instead of setting up a Boolean
operation between two modeled objects, you reach for the VRML drill and then drill your holes. 
Although way too costly for the consumer market, this technology still holds a lot of promise for
future cad interfaces.

Norm Kinzie holds an important patent on 3D-lamination printing. What makes his patent
distinct is the application of printed information in the model. This has broad implications,
including the application of full photo-resolution color. It also has the import of allowing users to
print an entire model (as a normal lamination device would), to print a single layer of a model
(with notes and annotations) or to print a 3D book (all of the sections of the model printed as a
page, bound as a book).  If such a device were inexpensive, its not hard to imagine that the
normal desktop printer does double duty as a 2D/3D printer.

Finally, the most encouraging development contributing to the popularization of RP is Nichimen

Graphics’ and Nintendo’s announcement of a 3D-modeling package for the game boy. WOW!
Kids able to develop 3d models on their Game Boy! The potential integration is mind boggling.
Both aspects of the problems of the CAD interface are solved: a CAD interface that’s simple to
use and a new generation of users for whom learning another CAD program is second nature.

Take this a step further: Nintendo games allow users to replace the standard characters with
custom designed characters. And a step further: some enterprising RP company encourages
Nintendo’s modeler to allow .stl output for the creation of real models, more correctly toys. Or
maybe a step further: a RP giant makes a strategic alliance with Nintendo to integrate 3d
prototyping into their products. When you buy the Game Boy modeler, you get a coupon for one
free model. Is this rapid manufacture or what?

OK, I digress. This scenario is still pretty far out. A strategic alliance between RP manufacturing
and electronic gaming seems surreal. But the fact remains that if Nintendo’s modeler catches on
there will be a new generation of 3D modelers for whom CAD is not a foreign language. It is just
part of their daily entertainment.

There is one more un-exploited potential for RP popularization: digital film and animation
effects. Two issues ago I devoted an article to those potentials. (That’s a Print: Various uses of
3d Printing in the Film Industry, Prototyping Technology International, October 1997, issue 2).

So as the RP industry sags under the weight of its growing pains-- cheer up. The future is a
bright and wonderful place were RP, 3D printing, fabbing, replicating, or whatever you want to
call it is part of everyone’s daily life.