The application of laser in cutting metal materials has been widely known, but many people do not know how to judge the quality of processing when using laser cutting machines. In fact, the cutting quality is usually judged from the end surface roughness, bottom burr, verticality, and cutting width.

1. End surface roughness

When the laser cuts materials, affected by the airflow and feed speed, vertical (or inclined) lines will be formed on the end surface. The deeper the lines, the rougher the end surface, and the shallower the lines, the smoother the end surface. Roughness not only affects edge appearance, but also friction characteristics, so lower roughness means higher quality. By adjusting parameters such as laser power, feed speed, focal length, auxiliary gas type and air pressure, the end surface roughness can be continuously optimized.

2. the bottom burr

The principle of laser cutting metal is to instantly vaporize the metal by the high energy of the laser and blow away the slag on the surface of the workpiece by the auxiliary gas. However, in the actual processing, thicker plates, insufficient air pressure, mismatched feed rates and other factors can cause some of the slag to form burrs after cooling and hang on the bottom of the workpiece. This requires additional deburring work and extra man-hours, the burr and hanging slag at the bottom of the workpiece is a very important criterion for judging the cutting quality.

3. Verticality

For sheet metal, the verticality of laser cutting is negligible, but when the thickness of the material exceeds 10mm, the verticality of the cutting edge is very important. As you move away from the focal point, the laser beam becomes divergent and the cut widens towards the top or bottom depending on the position of the focal point. The cutting edge deviates from the vertical line by a few hundredths of a millimeter, the more vertical the edge, the higher the cutting quality.

4.Cutting Width

Cutting Width is a reflection of processing accuracy, usually does not affect the cutting quality, only when the workpiece needs to form a particularly precise internal contour, pattern, it will become an important indicator. The width determines the minimum inside diameter of the contour. The smaller the width, the more precise the contour and the smaller the hole diameter can be processed, which is one of the important advantages of laser cutting instead of plasma cutting. However, as the thickness of the sheet increases, the cut width inevitably increases. To ensure stable, high-precision cutting, you need to make sure that the workpiece is stable in the processing area of the laser cutting machine.

About HGTECH: HGTECH is the pioneer and leader of laser industrial application in China, and the authoritative provider of global laser processing solutions. We have comprehensively arranged laser intelligent machine, measurement and automation production lines, and smart factory construction to provide overall solutions for intelligent manufacturing.