FIBRE LASER CUTTING CREATING BUZZ

Fibre laser cutting is causing a buzz at trade shows around the world in 2018.

Despite the technology having been around for over a decade.

With a combination of reliability, performance and cost efficiency, fibre laser cutting is increasing in demand as industries realise the benefits and reality of this technology.

What is fibre laser cutting?

Fibre laser is a thermal process for cutting metal by focusing a lens at high power on a very small area.

Fibre laser cutter uses solid state lasers created through optical fibres pumped with diodes to create a solid gain medium.

High power lasers are focused onto the surface of the metal to be cut, and the energy is then absorbed into the surface of material.

We transfer this energy  into heat, which vaporises or melts the metal.

Advantages of fibre laser cutting

• Fibre laser cutting machines have fewer components and no gas consumables, so they require virtually no maintenance
• Fibre laser cutter is over 80% more efficient than CO2 laser cutting systems
• Operating costs are lower than CO2 laser cutting because fibre laser cutter machines use around one-third of the energy
• Fibre laser cutter offers great accuracy in all metal cutting. Since there are no beam diversions, with fibre laser cutter, you get precise, clean cuts each time
• The laser light source has a longer life expectancy than that of a CO2 laser
• Reflective materials, such as brass, aluminium and copper, can all be easily cut with fibre laser without worrying about back reflections.

Fibre laser cutter has evolved significantly in the past few years and is slowly establishing itself in the metal fabricating industry.

There have been significant improvements in fibre laser cutting quality and speed, particularly in regards to thicker materials.

Which point towards fibre laser cutter playing a bigger role in sheet metal cutting in the future.