A Breakthrough for Fiber Lasers

Abstract

The sheet metal cutting market is dominated by fiber lasers because of their unmatched combination of productivity, precision, and cost‐effectiveness. Fiber lasers in the 2 – 4 kW range have become the workhorses for many fabrication shops, offering faster and more precise cutting of thin metal than legacy cutting technologies, such as CO 2 lasers and plasma torches. Many fiber laser systems are, however, designed for cutting a limited range of metal thicknesses. Specifically, a small, tightly focused laser beam provides the fastest cutting speeds for thin gauges, but for thicker plates this small beam has significant limitations in edge quality and maximum thickness. Alternatively, a larger beam can improve the edge quality for thick plate because of the wider kerf, but with a substantial speed penalty for cutting thin sheet.