What are the advantages of high-power laser cutting machines instead of plasma cutting machines?

In recent years, great changes have taken place in my country's manufacturing industry, and the speed of development is extremely fast. In particular, the development of the laser cutting machine industry has added a lot of color to industrial manufacturing. The vigorous development of the industry, the maturity of the domestic laser industry and its application in various industries. The maturity of fiber laser technology has brought great opportunities to the entire industry. The accuracy and precision of fiber cutting have reached the advanced level. Plasma cutting machine, to a large extent, is a machine that was born to replace the cutting metal of high-end fiber laser cutting machine. Basically, the cutting effect will be worse than that of the laser machine. This is inevitable, and it is also a kind of machine used in the low-end market.

Comparison of Fiber Laser Cutting Machine and Plasma Cutting

The main difference between laser cutting and plasma cutting is the difference in cutting thickness and the difference in cutting operating costs. The advantage of plasma cutting is that it can cut thick plates, and the price is low, but the price of cutting is rough. The surface of laser cutting is smooth, the cutting precision is high, and the price is more expensive than plasma cutting. The disadvantage of plasma cutting is that the cutting gap is large, about 3MM. The most important part of the plasma cutting machine is the power supply. In fact, compared with the laser of the laser cutting machine, the power consumption of plasma is relatively large.

Plasma cutting machine is a kind of thermal cutting equipment, the main working principle is compressed air as the main body, high temperature and high speed plasma arc as the heat source, the metal to be cut is partially melted, and the melted metal is blown away by high speed airflow at the same time, Create narrow slits. The plasma cutting machine can cut various metal materials such as stainless steel, iron, aluminum, copper, etc., and the cutting speed is fast, the slit is narrow, and the incision is smooth. Plasma cutting machines are generally used in the construction, installation and maintenance of machinery and metal structures.

The laser cutting machine uses a high-power and high-density laser beam to scan the surface of the material,  and can heat the material to thousands or even tens of thousands of degrees Celsius in a short period of time, which can melt or vaporize the material, and then use high-pressure gas to melt or Other matter is blown away from the kerf. Laser cutting uses invisible light beams instead of traditional mechanical knives. Laser cutting speed is fast and the incision is smooth. Generally, post-processing is not required. Cutting is less affected by heat and the deformation of the plate is small.

The difference in cutting precision, the cutting precision of plasma can reach within 1mm, while the precision of laser cutting can reach within 0.22mm. In terms of cost, plasma cutting machines are cheaper than laser cutting machines. In terms of processing accuracy, plasma cutting is equivalent to rough processing, and laser cutting is equivalent to fine processing.

The editor believes that: From the above differences, the main factor that restricts laser cutting machines from replacing plasma cutting machines is the cost issue. Now local fiber laser cutting machine manufacturers are increasing day by day, with continuous improvement in technology and industrial equipment update speed. is constantly improving. Only when the cost of laser cutting equipment reaches an acceptable level, plasma cutting is expected to be replaced by laser cutting machines.