Application of Compressed Air as Auxiliary Gas In Laser Metal Cutting

compressed air in cnc fiber laser metal cutting

Influence of Different Auxiliary Gas on Laser Cutting Quality

First, let’s look at the process of laser cutting: The laser generated by the laser source through the lens, focused on a point, forming a tiny point of light. By precisely controlling the distance between the lens and metal, the laser spot is kept stable at a certain position in the direction of the material thickness, and high power density laser energy is collected at the spot due to the focusing effect of the lens. After absorbing the spot energy, the material melts instantaneously, and the molten liquid is blown away from the material by auxiliary gas to complete the cutting process.

During the metal laser cutter whole cutting process, the main function of the auxiliary gas is to form the driving force to remove the molten metal liquid from the material itself. The effect of different kinds of gas on the material and the cutting section is different:

Oxygen As Auxiliary Gas

While blowing away the molten metal liquid, the oxidation reaction will take place to promote the endothermic melting of the metal, thus realizing the melting of the thicker material, which will obviously improve the laser processing ability. But at the same time, because of the existence of oxygen, the cutting surface of the material will be oxidized obviously, and the material around the cutting surface will be quenched, the hardness of the material will be increased.

Nitrogen As Auxiliary Gas

A protective atmosphere is formed around the molten metal to prevent the material from being oxidized, thus ensuring the quality of the cut surface. But at the same time, because nitrogen has no oxidation ability can not enhance heat transfer, it will not like oxygen to help improve cutting ability.

Air As Auxiliary Gas

When using air as auxiliary gas to cut, because of the existence of oxygen, the cutting section must occur oxidation reaction, but at the same time because of the existence of nitrogen, the oxygen oxidation reaction is not enough to enhance heat transfer, cutting ability will not improve, so the air cutting effect can be understood as between nitrogen cutting and oxygen cutting, and the advantage is that the cost of air cutting is very low, the total cost is the air compressor and the consumption of electricity, as well as air pipe filter consumption.

Scope of Use of Air As an Auxiliary Gas

Carbon Steel

Using air as an auxiliary gas cutting, cutting section will produce some burr, but the burr is not sharp

Stainless Steel

Using air as an auxiliary gas cutting, cutting section will produce a yellow oxide layer

Aluminum Plate

Using air as an auxiliary gas cutting, cutting burr relative to nitrogen will be reduced

Requirements For Air Supply Equipment When Air As an Auxiliary Gas

When using air as the auxiliary gas, the air pressure needs 0.9Mpa. Considering the pressure grade of the air compressor produced by the factory, the screw air compressor with a rated working pressure of 1.5Mpa and the flow rate of 1.3m³/min should be selected. Special attention should be paid to the quality of the compressed air, to ensure that the air is 99% dry and less than 1% water content. Therefore, the filter element in the compressed air must use the brand product of reliable quality and pay special attention to the timely replacement of the filter element. Finally, in the choice of air pipe diameter and pressure reducer, be sure to meet the compressor output gas flow and pressure, so as to ensure the use of compressed air pressure stability.

Related Models: AF-S Series · AF-R Series

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