Laser equipment is increasingly used in various industries due to its excellent performance. Laser equipment can be roughly divided into: laser cutting machines, laser engraving machines, laser marking machines, laser slicers, laser medical equipment, and other laser equipment. Currently, there are two types of laser cutting machines used for material cutting on the market: fiber laser cutting machines,.
To know how to choose a laser cutting machine, you first need to know the difference between fiber laser and CO2 laser
1. Different light-emitting media
Fiber optic lasers generate laser light through diode pumping and transmit the laser beam using flexible fiber optic cables, while CO2 lasers generate laser light through excitation of nitrogen and carbon dioxide gas in the cavity, and then transmit the beam through a mirror.
2. Different structures
At the same power, fiber lasers have a more compact structure compared to CO2 lasers
3. Different electro-optical conversion efficiency
Generally, the conversion efficiency of CO2 lasers is about 10%, and that of fiber lasers is about 30%
4. Different laser wavelengths
The wavelength of the fiber laser is 1.06 μ m. The wavelength of the CO2 laser is 9.3 μ m~10.6 μ m. Therefore, the focus spot of fiber laser is smaller than that of CO2 laser, with faster cutting speed and higher processing efficiency
So, since fiber lasers have so many advantages, isn’t it obvious how to choose between them? Even if it exists, CO2 laser has its advantages.
Different cutting materials have different light absorption rates for different wavelengths. Nonmetallic materials such as wood, cloth, plastic, and acrylic have very low absorption rates for optical fiber lasers, while CO2 lasers have high absorption rates for both metallic and non-metallic materials. Therefore, optical fiber lasers are only suitable for cutting metallic materials, while CO2 lasers can be used for both metal and non-metallic materials. Moreover, the CO2 laser cutting surface has good smoothness and high perpendicularity, making it more suitable for cutting materials with high accuracy requirements.
Therefore, in the metal plate processing industry, people generally choose optical fiber laser cutting machines, while in the non-metallic material processing industry, especially precision processing and advanced handicraft processing, people still choose to use CO2 laser cutting machines.