Laser Cutting - The Sharp Choice for Metal Processing
As the manufacturing industry's requirements for processing precision, efficiency, and quality continue to rise, traditional cutting processes are gradually showing their limitations when facing complex shapes, high-hardness materials, and fine processing needs. Laser cutting technology, with its unique advantages, has emerged since its inception and quickly risen in the metal processing field. It is widely used in multiple industries such as machinery manufacturing, automotive, and aerospace, becoming an important driving force for the development of modern manufacturing.
Technical Advantages
Extremely High Cutting Precision
In the manufacturing of precision parts for electronic devices, laser cutting can easily achieve a very small cutting seam width, generally controllable between 0.1 - 0.3mm. Take the metal shielding cover inside a mobile phone as an example. The dimensional error of laser cutting can be controlled within ±0.05mm, far higher than the precision of traditional cutting processes. This allows the components of electronic devices to fit better, improving the overall performance and stability of the products.
Fast Cutting Speed
Compared with traditional mechanical cutting methods, laser cutting has an obvious speed advantage. In the production of automotive body parts, when cutting ordinary carbon steel, the laser cutting speed can reach several meters per minute or even higher. For example, to cut a 1m × 1m automotive body steel plate, laser cutting only takes dozens of seconds, while the traditional shearing process may take several minutes, increasing the production efficiency by several times.
Excellent Cutting Quality
During the laser cutting process, the heat-affected zone is small, and the quality of the cutting edge is high, with basically no burrs, deformation, or other defects. In the processing of titanium alloy parts in the aerospace field, the surface roughness Ra value of the cut parts can reach 1.6 - 3.2μm, eliminating the need for subsequent grinding and other processing steps. This greatly improves production efficiency and also ensures the high strength and reliability of the parts.
Technical Disadvantages
High Equipment Investment Cost
A set of advanced laser cutting equipment, especially the equipment suitable for cutting large metal sheets, usually costs millions or even tens of millions of yuan. In addition, the maintenance cost of the equipment is also relatively high, with the annual maintenance cost accounting for about 8% - 12% of the equipment value. For many small and medium-sized enterprises, this is a huge capital investment, limiting the wide application of laser cutting technology in these enterprises.
High Operating Cost
When the laser cutting equipment is running, it consumes a large amount of electricity. At the same time, key components such as the laser generator have a certain service life, and the replacement cost is extremely high. For example, the service life of a laser generator is generally several thousand hours, and the replacement cost may be as high as hundreds of thousands of yuan, making the hourly operating cost of laser cutting relatively high.
Certain Requirements for Materials
Although laser cutting is suitable for a variety of metal materials, it has certain difficulties in cutting some high-reflectivity metals such as copper and aluminum. These materials have a high reflectivity to lasers, which easily leads to laser energy loss, affects the cutting effect, and may even damage the laser generator.
Customer Selection Suggestions
Electronics Manufacturing Enterprises with High Precision Requirements
When producing high-end electronic products such as smartphones and tablets, the precision requirements for internal metal parts are extremely high. Laser cutting can meet the strict requirements of these enterprises for part precision, improving the product yield and performance. For example, Apple widely uses laser cutting technology in the manufacturing of precision metal parts inside its mobile phones, ensuring the high quality and stability of the products.
Automotive Manufacturing Enterprises Pursuing High Efficiency
Automotive manufacturing enterprises have extremely high requirements for production efficiency during mass production. The fast cutting speed of laser cutting can effectively shorten the production cycle and increase the production capacity. Automobile manufacturers such as Tesla use laser cutting technology in the cutting of body parts, greatly improving production efficiency and reducing production costs.
Enterprises Processing Complex-shaped Parts
For some enterprises that need to process complex-shaped metal parts, such as mechanical manufacturing enterprises producing special-shaped gears and mold manufacturing enterprises processing complex molds, laser cutting can easily achieve the cutting of complex trajectories through programming without the need for complex tool replacement and adjustment. It is an ideal processing method.