Fiber laser cutting machine, owing to its unique advantages in cuting precision & speed, is thus widely used in different kinds of metal fabrication fields. When it comes into aluminum laser cutting, however, thing will be quite different & somehow complicated. Here we will discuss some problems & difficities to cut anodized aluminum panel, sheet and plate with metal laser cutting machines and propose some practative suggestions on fiber laser aluminum cutting.
Advantages of Aluminum Material
Aluminum is a relatively common material in social production. It is a product made of aluminum and other alloy elements. Aluminum materials have excellent performance of low density, light weight, high strength, good corrosion resistance, strong plasticity, and easy processing. Therefore, it is widely used in aviation, construction, automobile parts, furniture, medical equipment and other industries.
The processing of aluminum material usually starts by cutting, then cold bending, sawing, drilling, assembly, coloring and other processes. As the constant development of laser cutting technology, fiber laser cutting machine has been widely used as an efficient way to cut aluminum panel, screens, plates and tube profiles in different metal fabrication fields.
laser Cutting Aluminum Problems
Even though, some problems & difficulties still remain during the fiber laser aluminum cutting, aluminum plates have always been a problem. The specific reasons are as follows:
1).Aluminum material has low absorption rate and thus is difficult to cut
Aluminum is a kind of highly-reflective material, which has a low absorption rate of laser beam, When the aluminum is cut with a fiber laser cutting machine, the light that is not absorbed by aluminum will reflect it on the lens, and then passed to the fiber laser. The loss is very large, and it will cause great damage to the laser, which greatly shortens the service life of the laser.
2).The laser cutting aluminum parameters are not easy to adjust
During the processing process, the cutting process is more difficult to master than ordinary metal materials due to the high temperature resistance of aluminum materials. The cutting speed is too fast and it is easy to produce burrs. If the cutting speed is too slow, the aluminum material will crack, affecting the cutting quality.
Then, Can you cut aluminum with a fiber laser?
The answer, obviously, is yes, fiber laser metal cutting machine can cut aluminum plates and other kinds of highly-reflective materials, such as metallic silver (Ag), gold (Au) and aluminum (Al), etc.
Tips for Laser Cutting Aluminum
So, how to solve the problems encountered in laser cutting aluminum, and what are the aspects of attention in the process of cutting aluminum?
1).Anti-reflective coating on aluminum material, which can effectively reduce the reflection of aluminum on laser, thereby cutting aluminum more easily.
2).The Fiber laser cutting aluminum parameters & settings should be emphasized, such as the control process, the cutting speed, etc, because the aluminum material is not resistant to high temperature, compared with ordinary metal materials, its cutting process is more difficult to grasp. Excessive cutting is also prone to burning. Excessive cutting speed will cause cracks in aluminum materials and affect the cutting quality. By adjusting the cutting focus, speed, output power, air pressure and other parameters, the aluminum can be better cut.
3).It is recommended to use nitrogen when cutting aluminum plates, because the special colors of aluminum materials are uniform to ensure the color of the cutting product, nitrogen can prevent oxidation well, retain the characteristics of the material itself, and the use of nitrogen is a better choice;
4).Using specialized anti -high-inverse material cutting heads, the current development of laser technology is relatively mature. Many manufacturers have developed a special cut head for high reflection materials such as aluminum and copper or installed “anti -reflective device” to adapt to aluminum materials to adapt to aluminum materials Cutting to effectively reduce the damage to the lens.
Fiber Laser Cutting Aluminum Thickness
1).1000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 4mm;
2).1500W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 7mm;
3).2000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 9mm;
4).3000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 12mm;
5).4000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 15mm;
6).6000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 16mm;
7).8000W fiber laser cutting machine: maximum 18mm;
Notice: the parameters are for reference only, the actual cutting capacity is also related to the quality, cutting environment, auxiliary gas, cutting speed and other factors.
Summary
In general, optical fiber laser cutting machines can be an ideal solution for aluminum materials, and the cutting process should be patiently debugged, while paying attention to the cutting speed. After reading the introduction of the fiber laser aluminum cutting machine, you should use it correctly to cut different aluminum profiles.
