ABSTRACT

LASER light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation

In 1967 the British pioneered laser assisted oxygen set cutting for metal. was made by western electric engineering research center. The technology put in use for aerospace application and the technology increase day by day. laser cutting system that were energised just a few years ago were often not up to the challenges of cutting complex design. Improvements in software engineering of today better laser cutting machine. Laser cutting is technology that use laser to cut mark,weld drill,laser system cut many different material both fast and accurately with no tool wear and minimum heat affected zone. The biggest advantages is that cutting techniques is that new part can be created by simpal changing the computer numerical control program. There is no need to wait for dies or Other hard tool.Laser light travel in only one direction and it control by lens. Laser beAm focused into a spot only 0.005 inch in diameter like our hair .with energy in watt/square inch. When tiny high energy beam strikes a surface the material is vaporised almost immediately resulting in a clean sharp cut. Most advantage is tool free in natural and its clean and fast. It works on 3D system. No contact and extra finishing and ability to cut almost any material.

INTRODUCTION

Laser based system used to cut, drill, weld, and also for marking. Laser system cut many different materials both fast and accurate with no tool Wear. It is not use any hard tool and but effective cutting. Not need to change any parts in short time like old cutting method which use many tools and a sharp blade. Optical components in laser change time to use usually every 9 to 12 month. The flexibility and precision cutting of simple or complex parts of material. Noncontact cut which means no marks and complete finished cutting and a high quality cutting and cut many materials. It cut in many precise patterns such as Metal, ceramic, wood, plastic, paper, steel, and many other materials. But its Cost is more as compare to traditional cutting machine. But its component can easily change. And machine works very speedy as compare any other cutting machines. In laser cutting system cut almost every pattern by simple changing the computer numerical control program. so in industry and any place where cutting is need just change the program and cut new pattern no need any die and not west the time and fast and clean cut. The computer that control beam position uses information about work piece position obtain from height sensing device to Keep the beam focussed on the work piece surface. Laser cut many material but its cost is depend on which material is cut and also the gas used to cut the material which cut very finished so no extra finishing work is required. Laser cut 0.005 inch at work piece. Many factors and thickness Dependent on cost of cutting.

WHAT IS LASER

A laser is essentially a source of high-intensity light, which is produced by Passing electrical energy through a lasing mediTuwmo. Different types of Lasers-gas and solid state-are used for metalworking. The lasing medium In gas lasers is carbon dioxide ( CO,) mixed with helium and nitrogenIn. Solid State lasers it is an yttrium-aluminium-garnet (YAG) crystal containing neodymiumions. The two types are generally referred to as C02a nd YAG lasers, respectively.

Laser light waves travel in only one direction, unlike light from an Ordinary light bulb which spread out in all directions. The unidirectional, Coherent, laser beam can be focused into a spot only 0.005 inches in diameter (About the size of a human hair) with an energy density megawattskquare Inch. When this tiny, high-energy beam strikes a surface, the material is vaporized almost immediately, result a laser can be used for cutting by exposing material to the intense heat energy developed by its beam. If that heat input to the material is greater than that material's ability to reflect, Conduct, or disperse the added energy, it will cause a sudden rise in temperature of the material at that point. If the temperature rise is substantial enough, the input heat is capable of initialising a hole by vaporizing the material. The linear movement of this intense heat energy with respect to the material provides cutting action. In most cases the "raw" (unfocused) beam of even high power (multi-kilowatt) industrial lasers has inadequate energy to do much more than slowly heat a surface. Therefore, the beam is directed through a focusing lens. This allows the energy to be concentrated into a spot of less than 0.25 mm thus producing power densities of over a million watts per centimetre squared, capable of vaporizing many materials.

HOW TO WORK
The laser is only one part of a laser cutting system. Other essential components include beam-focusing optics to direct the beam to the workpiece, and equipment for moving either the laser beam or the workpiece, or both, to obtain the desired cutting pattern. Beam and workpiece motion are always under computer control. also necessary is a heat exchanger cool the laser and the optical components, gas delivery systems, and an exhaust system for lemaving vaporized material. While programming done at control Computer, it is more efficient to have an off-line CAD/CAM system for designing parts and preparing part programs. This is especially true for shops producing small lots of many different parts, where the control program must be changed frequently. Laser cutting is a technology that uses a laser to cut precise patterns in most all types of materials such as metal, ceramic ,paper and so on.

There are two types of lasers used for cutting: the gaseous CO2 laser The solid-state Nd: YAG laser

Laser cutting systems combine the heat of the focused beam with assist gas, which is introduced through a nozzle coaxial to the focused beam. The high velocity gas jet serves to Aid in material removal by blowing out excess material through the backside of the work Piece. Protect the lens from spatter ejected from the cut zone Assist in the burning process.

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 ejecta out and further enlarging the hole. Non melting material such as wood, carbon and thermoset plastics are usually cut by this method. 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. 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.

COMPONENTS OF LASER SYSTEM

Control Unit (CNC program) Power supply (120 or 240 v) Work piece positioning table may be fixed or move in up to 2 directions May contain fastening devices scrap removal system Optics Unit (focusing unit) mirrors, focusing lens, Fasteners Gas/debris removal system

Moving Material Positioning table moves in x-y plane Moving Optics Optical unit moves in x-y plane Hybrid Material moves in x, Optics move in y

DESIGN

Principal components: 1. Gain medium 2. Laser pumping energy 3. High reflector 4Output coupler 5. Laser beam

A laser consists of a gain medium inside a highly reflective optical cavity, as well as a means to supply energy to the gain medium. The gain medium is a material with properties that allow it to amplify light by stimulated emission. In its simplest form, a cavity consists of two mirrors arranged such that light bounces back and forth, each time passing through the gain medium. Typically one of the two mirrors, the output coupler, is partially transparent. The output laser beam is emitted through this mirror. Light of a specific wavelength that passes through the gain medium is amplified (increases in power); the surrounding mirrors ensure that most of the light makes many passes through the gain medium, being amplified repeatedly. Part of the light that is between the mirrors (that is, within the cavity) passes through the partially transparent mirror and escapes as a beam of light. The process of supplying the energy required for the amplification is called pumping. The energy is typically supplied as an electrical current or as light at a different wavelength. Such light may be provided by a flash lamp or perhaps another laser. Most practical lasers contain additional elements that affect properties such as the wavelength of the emitted light and the shape of the beam.

LASER PHSICS

A helium-neon laser demonstration at the Kastler-Brossel Laboratory at Univ. Paris 6. The pink-orange glow running through the center of the tube is from the electric discharge which inadvertently produces in coherent light, just as in a neon tube. That glowing plasma however also acts as the gain medium through which the internal beam passes as it is reflected in between the two mirrors. Laser radiation output from the front mirror can be seen to produce a tiny (about 1mm in diameter) intense spot on the screen to the right. Although it is a deep and pure red color, spots of laser light are so intense that cameras are typically overexposed and distort their color, often appearing more white.

Spectrum of a helium neon laser illustrating its very high spectral purity (limited by the measuring apparatus). The .002 nm bandwidth of the lasing medium is well over 10,000 times narrower than the spectral width of a light-emitting diode (whose spectrum is shown here for comparison), with the bandwidth of a single longitudinal mode being much narrower still. The gain medium of a laser is a material of controlled purity, size, concentration, and shape, which amplifies the beam by the process of stimulated emission. It can be of any state: gas, liquid, solid, or plasma. The gain medium absorbs pump energy, which raises some electrons into higher-energy ("excited") quantum states. Particles can interact with light by either absorbing or emitting photons. Emission can be spontaneous or stimulated. In the latter case, the photon is emitted in the same direction as the light that is passing by. When the number of particles in one excited state exceeds the number of particles in some lower-energy state,

Population inversion is achieved and the amount of stimulated emission due to light that passes through is larger than the amount of absorption. Hence, the light is amplified. By itself, this makes an optical amplifier. When an optical amplifier is placed inside a resonant optical cavity, one obtains a laser. The beam in the cavity and the output beam of the laser, when travelling in free space (or a homogenous medium) rather than waveguides (as in an optical fiber laser), can be approximated as a Gaussian beam in most lasers; such beams exhibit the minimum divergence for a given diameter. However some high power lasers may be multimode, with the transverse modes often approximated using Hermite-Gaussian or Laguerre-Gaussian functions. It has been shown that unstable laser resonators (not used in most lasers) produce fractal shaped beams. Near the beam "waist" (or focal region) it is highly collimated: the wave fronts are planar, normal to the direction of propagation, with no beam divergence at that point. However due to diffraction, that can only remain true well within the Rayleigh range. The beam of a single transverse mode (Gaussian beam) laser eventually diverges at an angle which varies inversely with the beam diameter, as required by diffraction theory. Thus, the "pencil beam" directly generated by a common helium-neon laser would spread out to a size of perhaps 500 kilometers when shone on the Moon (from the distance of the earth). On the other hand the light from a semiconductor laser typically exits the tiny crystal with a large divergence: up to 50. However even such a divergent beam can be transformed into a similarly collimated beam by means of a lens system, as is always included, for instance, in a laser pointer whose light originates from a laser diode. That is possible due to the light being of a single spatial mode. This unique property of laser light, spatial coherence, cannot be replicated using standard light sources (except by discarding most of the light) as can be appreciated by comparing the beam from a flashlight (torch) or spotlight to that of almost any laser.

CONTINUOUS AND PULSE MODE OPERATION

Continuous wave operation Some applications of lasers depend on a beam whose output power is constant over time. Such a laser is known as continuous wave (CW). Many types of lasers can be made to operate in continuous wave mode to satisfy such an application. Many of these lasers actually lase in several longitudinal modes at the same time, and beats between the slightly different optical frequencies of those oscillations will in fact produce amplitude variations on time scales shorter than the round-trip time (the reciprocal of the frequency spacing between modes), typically a few nanoseconds or less. In most cases these lasers are still termed "continuous wave" as their output power is steady when averaged over any longer time periods, with the very high frequency power variations having little or no impact in the intended application. (However the term is not applied to mode locked lasers, where the intention is to create very short pulses at the rate of the round-trip time). Pulsed operation Pulsed operation of lasers refers to any laser not classified as continuous wave, so that the optical power appears in pulses of some duration at some repetition rate. This encompasses a wide range of technologies addressing a number of different motivations. Some lasers are pulsed simply because they cannot be run in continuous mode. In other cases the application requires the production of pulses having as large an energy as possible. Since the pulse energy is equal to the average power divided by the repetition rate, this goal can sometimes be satisfied by lowering the rate of pulses so that more energy can be built up in between pulses. In laser ablation for example, a small volume of material at the surface of a work piece can be evaporated if it is heated in a very short time, whereas supplying the energy gradually would allow for the heat to be absorbed into the bulk of the piece, never attaining a sufficiently high temperature at a particular point

OVER VIEW MODES

Primary Considerations This section discusses the criteria that are important to successful cutting. It is intended as a Guide only, since there is no substitute for operator experience. Laser Power Setting The most important point regarding laser power is that maximum power is not necessarily beneficial. Firstly, there is some trade-off between power and mode - the mode (or quality of the beam, which determines the fineness of the focus) is of significantly greater importance to cutting than the power level. Secondly, limiting the power is frequently beneficial in terms of reducing thermal input into the material - especially when cutting thin material, or materials which can be adversely affected by excess heat. It is simply wasteful to use more power than necessary. Cutting Speed The actual feedrate in use for a job will directly affect the cutting results; the feedrate is decidedly a function of the type of material and material thickness to be used. In any particular case, there will be some feedrate that is too high and the cut will simply fail to penetrate the material fully; at the other extreme, excessive heat input is likely to damage the material adjacent to the cut. In general, some federate closer to the maximum limit will be optimum, but always the choice is made experimentally on the basis of cutting results; the operator, with a little experience, can make this determination quite readily . Focal Height Focus assemblies provide support for the lens in order to image the beam. These assemblies generally provide means to adjust the focal point in or at the part. Height sensing devices can be incorporated to automatically maintain the proper focal point position regardless of undulations in the work piece surface. These devices measure the lens-to-work piece spacing either through contact probes riding on the work piece surface or via a comparison of noncontact optical, acoustic, or electrical (inductance or capacitance measuring) signals bounced off the material. The feedback can trigger compensation of the vertical axis position. For best results, the focal point of the beam must impinge on the surface of a work piece. Nozzle Lateral Adjustment (Spot) Gas jet nozzle assemblies are usually integrated with the focusing assembly below the lens in order to develop the desired gas assist. A properly designed nozzle tip is very important to the cutting process. It can promote higher federates, and better quality with minimum gas consumption. Nozzle adjustment is an important factor.

Choice of lens As a general rule, the shortest focal length lens (5") produces the most sharply defined focal point. Thus, the 5" lens is used when maximum intensity is important - that is, cutting materials with high intrinsic reflectivity (metals). In practice, there is only a slight (but usually noticeable) difference between a 5" lens and a 7.5 lens in this respect. The longer focal length is required, however, to achieve parallel-sided cuts in some materials when the material is reasonably thick. For example, to cut 1" thick acrylic, it is found virtually impossible to keep the sides of the cut parallel with the 5" lens, whereas the 7.5" lens makes this quite easy. Note that the choice of laser power, assist gas pressure, and federate all combine to influence the cut quality in this respect, apart from the lens itself. Assist Gas Pressure Generally oxygen is used for metal cutting, and air is used for non-metal cutting. Highpressure nitrogen can be used to cut mild steel, stainless steel and aluminium. Using nitrogen as an assist gas leaves the cut edges clean and free of dross but is expensive because up to 25 bar is needed. The general rule with assist gas is: there must be sufficient flow (pressure) in each case, but an excessive amount is wasteful. Normally, high-pressure cutting requires increased pressure with increased material thickness and cutting with oxygen requires decreased pressure with increased thickness. Of course, the type of material is also an influence; very low carbon steel, for example, will be adversely affected by excessive oxygen flow since it is highly reactive. In any particular case, the pressure used will be experimentally determined, and is usually not highly critical. Note that no material can be cut without any assist gas. Power Output Lasers are rated by their power output in terms of watts. Since laser cutting is a thermal process, the amount of heat produced relates to its capabilities. Whereas a 300 watt laser with a high quality output is more than adequate for the cutting of paper products, it lacks the heat producing capabilities to effectively couple into aluminium. Given all other considerations being equal (eg power distribution, spot size, etc), increased power allows for faster processing speeds and the ability to cut thicker sections of materials. Stability Since quality results are obtained by the application of consistent energy, the stability of the laser's output is a key feature in cutting. This includes maintaining unwavering output energy (Power stability), consistent beam quality (mode stability), and fixed energy concentration (Pointing stability). Should the power increase or decrease by more than a few percent over the short term operation

Speed Laser cutting federates have been found to fit empirical formulas based on the available laser power density and the properties of the material to be cut. Above a threshold amount, the federates are directly proportional to available power density, which takes into account the laser's performance features (eg power, mode) in addition to the focusing system's characteristics (eg spot size). Cutting rates are likewise inversely proportional to the materials density and thickness.

Additional power (1700 watts vs 3500 watts) Improved mode (TEMoo, vs multimode) Smaller focused spot size (2.5 vs 5" F.L lens) Lower required energy to initiate vaporisation (plastic vs steel) Lower material density (white pine vs hickory) Decreased thickness.

Focal Point Position

During the laser cutting process, the focal point of the lens should be consistently positioned in order to provide the best cutting results. In most cases, the focal point is positioned at or slightly below the surface of the material. Above or below this point the power density will taper off until it is insufficient to produce an effective cut. Cutting systems that employ short focal length lenses must ensure constant monitoring of the lens-to-work piece distance.

EFFECT ON MATIRIAL
Plastics (Polymers) Lasers have found their way into many plastic machining operations because of their ability to cut complex geometrise, at high federates without contacting the work piece. Since the laser is an intense heat source, it uses its energy to vaporise the binder and quickly breaks down the material's polymer chains. Thermoplastics with relatively low melting temperatures typically display clean cuts with firepolished edges as a result of resolidified melting. Process control can be exercised to minimise Rubber Both natural gum and synthetic rubber materials in thicknesses up to l9mm readily vaporise from the heat of a focused laser beam. This allows precision sizing of items such as gaskets. Material with fibre or steel cord reinforcement can be cut with a laser at considerably slower speeds due to the higher energy intensity per unit time necessary to sever the cords. The advantage of laser cutting is the simplicity of handling without having to worry about stretching or distorting of the material due to the impact of a cutting tool. WOOD Fresh cut samples tend to ex While lasers are routinely cutting slots in die boards for mounting of steel rule dies their acceptance for other industrial applications has been hampered by process limitations and relatively high initial cost. Since practical power outputs are limited to a few kilowatts, lasers are limited in their ability to cut up to 75mm thick for timber and 25mm for particleboard and plywood. Other Organics Paper products and leather, as well as natural and synthetic textiles, can easily be cut with a laser. The lack of thickness; coupled with their high combustibility minimises the power output requirements of a laser to no more than a few hundred watts. The resultant edges are clean and free from fraying. Glass As opposed to quartz, most types of glass are prone to thermal shock and are therefore generally not suitable candidates for laser cutting. The instantaneous heat of the laser's beam provides cutting action by both vaporisation and the blowing away of molten glass from the cut zone.Some materials such as boro silicates have a low co-efficient of expansion and, with adequate head cycling, can tolerate the heat input from a laser. However, most other forms of glass including soda lime experience thermal shock that results in crack propagation along the cut edge. Also, based on the reflow characteristics of the particular glass, there will be varying degrees of resolidified

Stone & Rock

While they tend to absorb the heat energy from a laser, granite, concrete, rock, stone and various minerals are not suited for laser cutting. The explosiveness from heating moisture within the materials can lead to undesirable cracking. Aside from the lack of uniformity in their structures, stone and rock are typically found in thicknesses greater than 25mm, far in excess of the practical depth. Of field of useable focussed laser energy. Metals Although at room temperature, almost all metals are highly reflective of infrared energy, the CO 2 laser with its 10.6-micron wavelength (far infrared) is successfully employed on many metal cutting applications. The initial absorptivity can range from only 10% to as little as 0.5% of the incident energy. However, the focusing of a beam to provide power densities in excess of 1 million watts per square cm can quickly (in a matter of microseconds) initiate surface melting. The absorption characteristics of most metals in their molten states increase dramatically . Copper Alloys Copper has less ability than aluminium to absorb energy from a CO 2 laser. Due to its high reflectance, copper generally cannot be cut. Brass on the other hand can absorb some energy. It essentially behaves like aluminium with slag adhering to the backside of the cut. Titanium Pure titanium responds well to the concentrated heat energy of a focused laser beam. The use of an oxygen assist enhances the cutting speeds but tends to promote a larger oxide layer along the cut edge. Aircraft alloys such 6AL-4V tend to exhibit some slag that adheres tothe bottom side of the cut but is relatively easy to remove., raising the absorptivity of energy to as much as 60% - 80%.

TYPES OF LASER
Gas lasers
Following the invention of the HeNe gas laser, many other gas discharges have been found to amplify light coherently. Gas lasers using many different gases have been built and used for many purposes. The helium-neon laser (HeNe) is able to operate at a number of different wavelengths, however the vast majority are engineered to lase at 633 nm; these relatively low cost but highly coherent lasers are extremely common in optical research and educational laboratories. Commercial carbon dioxide (CO2) lasers can emit many hundreds of watts in a single spatial mode which can be concentrated into a tiny spot. This emission is in the thermal infrared at 10.6 m; such lasers are regularly used in industry for cutting and welding. The efficiency of a CO2 laser is unusually high: over 10%. Argon-ion lasers can operate at a number of lasing transitions between 351 and 528.7 nm. Depending on the optical design one or more of these transitions can be lasing simultaneously; the most commonly used lines are 458 nm, 488 nm and 514.5 nm. A nitrogen transverse electrical discharge in gas at atmospheric pressure (TEA) laser is an inexpensive gas laser, often homebuilt by hobbyists, which produces rather incoherent UV light at 337.1 nm.[14] Metal ion lasers are gas lasers that generate deep ultraviolet wavelengths. Helium-silver (HeAg) 224 nm and neon-copper (NeCu) 248 nm are two examples. Like all low-pressure gas lasers, the gain media of these lasers have quite narrow oscillation linewidths, less than 3 GHz (0.5 picometers),[15] making them candidates for use in fluorescence suppressed Raman spectroscopy

Solid-state lasers
It should be noted that "solid-state" in this sense refers to a crystal or glass, but this usage is distinct from the designation of "solid-state electronics" in referring to semiconductors. Semiconductor lasers (laser diodes) are pumped electrically and are thus not referred to as solid-state lasers. The class of solid-state lasers would, however, properly include fiber lasers in which dopants in the glass lase under optical pumping. But in practice these are simply referred to as "fiber lasers" with "solid-state" reserved for lasers using a solid rod of such a material.Neodymium is a common "dopant" in various solid-state laser crystals, including yttrium orthovanadate (Nd:YVO4), yttrium lithium fluoride (Nd:YLF) and yttrium aluminium garnet (Nd:YAG). All these lasers can produce high powers in the infrared spectrum at 1064 nm. They are used for cutting, welding and marking of metals and other materials, and also in spectroscopy and for pumping dye lasers.

Fibber lasers
Solid-state lasers or laser amplifiers where the light is guided due to the total internal reflection in a single mode optical fiber are instead called fiber lasers. Guiding of light allows extremely long gain regions providing good cooling conditions; fibers have high surface area to volume ratio which allows efficient cooling. In addition, the fiber's waveguiding properties tend to reduce thermal distortion of the beam. Erbium and ytterbium ions are common active species in such lasers

SAFTY
Even the first laser was recognized as being potentially dangerous. Theodore Maiman characterized the first laser as having a power of one "Gillette" as it could burn through one Gillette razor blade. Today, it is accepted that even low-power lasers with only a few milliwatts of output power can be hazardous to human eyesight, when the beam from such a laser hits the eye directly or after reflection from a shiny surface. At wavelengths which the cornea and the lens can focus well, the coherence and low divergence of laser light means that it can be focused by the eye into an extremely small spot on the retina, resulting in localized burning and permanent damage in seconds or even less time. Lasers are usually labeled with a safety class number, which identifies how dangerous the laser is:

Class I/1 is inherently safe, usually because the light is contained in an enclosure, for example in CD players. Class II/2 is safe during normal use; the blink reflex of the eye will prevent damage. Usually up to 1 mW power, for example laser pointers. Class IIIa/3R lasers are usually up to 5 mW and involve a small risk of eye damage within the time of the blink reflex. Staring into such a beam for several seconds is likely to cause damage to a spot on the retina. Class IIIb/3B can cause immediate eye damage upon exposure. Class IV/4 lasers can burn skin, and in some cases, even scattered light can cause eye and/or skin damage. Many industrial and scientific lasers are in this class.The indicated powers are for visible-light, continuous-wave lasers. For pulsed lasers and invisible wavelengths, other power limits apply. People working with class 3B and class 4 lasers can protect their eyes with safety goggles which are designed to absorb light of a particular wavelength.

Certain infrared lasers with wavelengths beyond about 1.4 micrometres are often referred to as being "eye-safe". This is because the intrinsic molecular vibrations of water molecules very strongly absorb light in this part of the spectrum, and thus a laser beam at these wavelengths is attenuated so completely as it passes through the eye's cornea that no light remains to be focused by the lens onto the retina. The label "eye-safe" can be misleading, however, as it only applies to relatively low power continuous wave beams; any high power or Q-switched laser at these wavelengths can burn the cornea, causing severe eye damage.

ADVNTAGES

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 does not 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. Laser cutting for metals has the advantages over plasma cutting of being more precise and using less energy when cutting sheet metal, however, most industrial lasers cannot cut through the greater metal thickness that plasma can. Newer lasers machines operating at higher power (6000 watts, as contrasted with early laser cutting machines' 1500 watt ratings) are approaching plasma machines in their ability to cut through thick materials, but the capital cost of such machines is much higher than that of plasma cutting machines capable of cutting thick materials like steel plate. The flexibility and precision cutting of simple or complex parts; A non contact cut which means no marks or contamination of the material; A high quality cut with no extra finishing required; The ability to cut almost any material;

DIDADVANTAGE

The main disadvantage of laser cutting is the high power consumption. 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.

Material limitations (including crystalline and reflective materials) Producing a piercing hole that can make the pattern design more difficult. Reflected laser light can present a safety hazard The cost of laser cutting machine is much higher than other cutting processes

APPLICATION

Medicine: Bloodless surgery, laser healing, surgical treatment, kidney stone treatment, eye treatment, dentistry Industry: Cutting, welding, material heat treatment, marking parts, non-contact measurement of parts Military: Marking targets, guiding munitions, missile defence, electro-optical countermeasures (EOCM), alternative to radar, blinding troops. Law enforcement: used for latent fingerprint detection in the forensic identification field[27][28] Research: Spectroscopy, laser ablation, laser annealing, laser scattering, laser interferometry, LIDAR, laser capture microdissection, fluorescence microscopy Product development/commercial: laser printers, optical discs (e.g. CDs and the like), barcode scanners, thermometers, laser pointers, holograms, bubblegrams. Laser lighting displays: Laser light shows Cosmetic skin treatments: acne treatment, cellulite and striae reduction, and hair removal.

>Wood >Paper >Leather >Glass >Ceramic >Metal

>Laser Applications >Laser Welding >More accurate, reliable and fast than traditional welding methods >Laser Marking >Similarly accurate, reliable and fast in comparison to traditional marking methods

SPECIFICATION

About 3D Laser Cutters 6-axis rotary head to allow beveled and mitered cuts Capable of cutting round, square, channel, angle and other structural shapes Up to cut thickness Industries Served Automotive, industrial, electrical, constructions and aerospace 3D Laser Cutting Applications The future of laser cutting Current Uses of Laser Cutting Systems Primarily 2D Systems Either melts, burns, or vaporizes away material

Used to cut fl The Beam .0875-.5 inches from the source ~.001 inch at the work piece Many factors are material and thickness dependent focal length, beam intensity, reed rate, cut with (kerf), cut time, machine configuration Types of cut Vaporization cutting, Melt and Blow, Thermal stress cracking, Burning Stabilized At-sheet metal and piping/structural material

ECONOMICS

Efficient use of Laser Cutters is very material and application dependent Initial startup costs are high, but the larger cost is the gas used to expel the material out of the cut Creates very precise cuts with little to no finishing work required

CONCLUSION

There are many useful applications and uses for Laser Cutting in the current manufacturing market Many new innovations are on their way and new uses for this versatile cutting process are cropping up each year The future of Laser cutting has a bright future, so dont forget your welding mask