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Cutting processes - laser cutting
Job Knowledge 52
Coined from the w ords Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission
of Radiation lasers have been a byw ord for efficiency and quality
in materials processing since their advent in the sixties.
They offered an entirely new form of energy w hich in turn lent
itself to uses in manufacturing, medicine and communications. Able
to heat, melt and even vaporise material, lasers are seen as the
ideal medium for channelling intense but controllable energy.
By far the most popular use of lasers is for cutting.

Laser cutting
Laser cutting is mainly a thermal process in w hich a focused laser
beam is used to melt material in a localised area. A co-axial gas
jet is used to eject the molten material and create a kerf. A
continuous cut is produced by moving the laser beam or
w orkpiece under CNC control. There are three major varieties of
C ut section of ellipse in flat plate
laser cutting: fusion cutting, flame cutting and remote cutting.
In fusion laser cutting, an inert gas (typically nitrogen) is used to expel molten material out of the kerf. Nitrogen
gas does not exothermically react w ith the molten material and thus does not contribute to the energy input.
In flame laser cutting, oxygen is used as the assist gas. In addition to exerting mechanical force on the molten
material, this creates an exothermic reaction w hich increases the energy input to the process.
In remote laser cutting, the material is partially evaporated (ablated) by a high-intensity laser beam, allow ing
thin sheets to be cut w ith no assist gas.
The laser cutting process lends itself to automation w ith offline CAD/CAM systems controlling either three-axis
flatbed systems or six-axis robots for three-dimensional laser cutting.
Improvements in accuracy, edge squareness and heat input control means that laser cutting is increasingly
replacing other profiling cutting techniques, such as plasma and oxy-fuel.

Cutting characteristics Benefits

High quality cut no finishing
Cuts carbon manganese steels up to 20mm
Ultra flexible simple or complex parts
Cuts stainless steel up to 12mm
Non contact no surface blemishing
Cuts aluminium up to 10mm
Quick set up small batches
Cuts brass and titanium
Low heat input small HAZ, low distortion
Cuts thermoplastics, w ood and many non-metals
Lends itself to nearly all materials

How does the lens used affect the thickness of the cut?
The laser cutting process involves focusing a laser beam, usually w ith a lens (sometimes w ith a concave mirror),
to a small spot w hich has sufficient pow er density to produce a laser cut.
The lens is defined by its focal length, w hich is the distance from the lens to the focused spot. The critical factors
w hich govern the efficiency of the laser cutting process are the focused spot diameter (d) and the depth of focus
(L).
The depth of focus is the effective distance over w hich satisfactory cutting can be achieved. It can be defined as
the distance over w hich the area of the focused spot does not increase beyond 50%.
The laser focal spot diameter and the depth of focus is dependent on the raw laser beam diameter on the lens
and the focal length of the lens. For a constant raw laser beam diameter, decrease in the focal length lens of
the focusing lens results in a smaller focal spot diameter and depth of focus. For a constant focus length lens,
increase in the raw beam diameter also reduces both the spot diameter and the depth of focus.
To allow comparison betw een lasers w ith different beam diameters w e therefore use a factor called the focus f-
number, w hich is the focal length, F, divided by the incoming raw beam diameter, D.
The requirements for cutting are as follow s:
a) high pow er density and therefore small focused spot size
b) long depth of focus to process thicker materials w ith a reasonable tolerance to focus position variation.
Because these tw o requirements are in conflict w ith each other, a compromise must be made. The only other
consideration is that the shorter the focal length, the closer the lens is to the w orkpiece, and therefore more

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likely to get damaged by spatter from the cutting process.
In fact, it w ould be possible to optimise focal length for each material thickness, but this w ould involve additional
set-up time w hen changing from one job to another, w hich w ould have to be balanced against the increased
speed. In reality, changing the lens is avoided and a compromised cutting speed used, unless a specific job has
special requirements.

What lasers are used for sheet metal cutting?

Now adays most of industrial sheet metal laser cutting is carried out using tw o types of lasers: CO 2 and fibre.

CO2 laser
The CO 2 laser (carbon dioxide laser) is generated in a gas mixture, w hich mostly consists of carbon dioxide
(CO 2 ), helium and nitrogen. Such a laser is electrically pumped using an electric discharge.

CO 2 lasers typically emit at a w avelength of 10.6m. Those used for material processing can generate beams of
many kilow atts in pow er. The w all-plug efficiency of CO 2 lasers is about 10%, w hich is higher than for most
lamp-pumped solid-state lasers (eg ND:YAG lasers), but low er than for many diode-pumped lasers .
A CO 2 laser can cut thicker materials (>5mm) faster than a fibre laser of the same pow er. It also produces a
smoother surface finish w hen cutting thicker materials.
Laser cutting of sheet metals historically started w ith CO 2 lasers. Most CO 2 laser cutting machines are three-
axis systems (X-Y, tw o-dimensional positioning control w ith a Z-axis height control).
There are, how ever, a number of w ays of achieving the X-Y movement: either moving the laser head, moving
the w orkpiece or a combination of both.
The most popular approach is know n as a 'flying optics' system, w here the w orkpiece remains stationary and
mirrors are moved in both X and Y axes. The advantages of this approach are that the motors are alw ays
moving a know n, fixed mass. This can often be much heavier than the w orkpiece, but it is easier to predict and
control.
As the w orkpiece is not moved, this also means that there is no real limit to sheet w eight. The disadvantage of
flying optics is the variation in beam size, as a laser beam is never perfectly parallel, but actually diverges
slightly as it leaves the laser.
This means that w ithout controlling the divergence, there may be some variation in cutting performance
betw een different parts of the table, due to a change in raw beam size. This effect can be reduced by adding a
re-collimating optic, or some systems even use adaptive mirror control.
The alternative is a 'fixed optic' system w here the laser head remains stationary and the w orkpiece is moved in
both X and Y axes. This is the ideal situation optically, but the w orse situation mechanically, especially for
heavier sheets.
For relatively light sheet w eights, a fixed optic system can be a viable option, but as the sheet w eight increases,
accurately positioning the material at high speed can be a problem.
The third option is know n as a 'hybrid' system, w here the laser head is moved in one axis and the material
moved in the other axis. This is often an improvement over fixed optics, but still suffers from difficulties w ith
heavier sheet w eights.

Fibre lasers
Fibre lasers are a member of a family called solid-state lasers. In solid-state lasers, the beam is generated by a
solid medium. Fibre lasers, disk lasers and Nd:YAG lasers are in the same category.
A fibre laser beam is generated by a series of laser diodes. The laser beam is then transmitted through an
optical fibre w here it gets amplified (similar to a conventional laser cavity in CO 2 lasers). The amplified beam, on
exiting the optical fibre, is collimated and then focused by a lens or a concave onto the material to be cut. Fibre
laser sources have the follow ing advantages:
1. Unlike a conventional CO 2 resonator, a fibre laser source does not have any moving parts (eg fans for
gas circulation) or mirrors in the light-generating source. This is a major advantage in terms of reducing
maintenance requirements and operating costs.
2. Fibre lasers are typically tw o to three times more energy-efficient that CO 2 lasers of the same pow er.
3. A fibre laser can cut thin sheets faster than a CO 2 laser of the same pow er. This is due to better
absorption of fibre laser w avelength at the cutting front.
4. Fibre lasers are capable of cutting reflective materials w ithout fear of back reflections damaging the
machine. This allow s copper, brass, and aluminium to be cut w ithout problems.

Direct diode lasers

Direct diode laser technology is the latest progress in the field of solid-state lasers. In this technology, several
laser beams emitted from laser-emitting diodes of different w avelengths are superimposed using so-called
beam combining techniques. Unlike fibre lasers, direct diode lasers do not include a brightness-enhancing stage,
giving them low er optical losses and higher w all-plug efficiency. How ever, for the same reason, direct diode
lasers are currently of low er beam quality compared to fibre lasers. Direct diode lasers at multi-kilow att levels of
pow er are commercially available and have been successfully used for sheet metal cutting applications.

What difficulties does reflection cause?

All metals are reflective to CO 2 laser beams, until a certain pow er density threshold value is reached.

Aluminium is more reflective than carbon manganese steel or stainless steel and has the potential to cause
damage to the laser itself.
Most laser cutting machines use a laser beam aligned normal to a flat sheet of material. This means that should
the laser beam be reflected by the flat sheet it can be transmitted back through the beam delivery optics and
into the laser itself, potentially causing significant damage.
This reflection does not come entirely from the sheet surface, but is caused by the formation of a molten pool
w hich can be highly reflective. For this reason simply spraying the sheet surface w ith a non-reflective coating w ill

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Amada LC V laser cutting machine with
autostorage and pallet changer system
C ourtesy of Amada UK Ltd
hazardous reflections are occurring.
not entirely eliminate the problem.
As a general rule the addition of alloying elements reduces the
reflectivity of aluminium to the laser, so pure aluminium is harder
to process than a more traditional 5000 series alloy.
W ith good, consistent cutting parameters the likelihood of a
reflection can be reduced to almost zero, depending on the
materials used. How ever, it is still necessary to be able to prevent
damage to the laser w hile developing the conditions or if
something goes w rong w ith the equipment.
The 'aluminium cutting system' w hich most modern equipment
uses is actually a w ay of protecting the laser rather than an
innovative technique for cutting. This system usually takes the
form of a back reflection system that can detect if too much laser
radiation is being reflected back through the optics.
This w ill often automatically stop the laser, before any major
damage is caused. W ithout this system there are risks w ith
processing aluminium as there is no w ay of detecting if potentially

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