Air cutting principle
• The most commonly used gases for laser cutting are oxygen, nitrogen, and air. Among them, air cutting is widely favored by laser processing customers due to its low cost and only power consumption.
The cutting principle of air is similar to that of nitrogen. It relies on the energy of the laser to melt the metal, and uses high pressure to blow away the molten material. During this period, some metal substances will oxidize or burn, forming metal oxides on the cut surface.
Air Cutting Applications
• The air itself exists in the atmosphere, which is compressed into the air storage tank by the air compressor, and then filtered, cooled and dried to remove the water and oil in the air, and it can be used.
Since air contains about 21% oxygen, it can make up for the lack of oxygen and nitrogen to a certain extent. Air can be used for stainless steel cutting, carbon steel cutting, aluminum plate cutting, etc.
carbon steel plate
• For carbon steel plates, when air is used as an auxiliary gas for cutting, small burrs will be generated on the section of the parts, but the burrs are not sharp and can be applied to parts that do not require high burrs.
stainless steel plate
• When the stainless steel plate is cut with air, the cutting surface will be oxidized after the material is processed, and the oxide will produce defects such as slag inclusions and pores in the weld bead during the welding of the cut section, which will affect the quality of the weld and lead to a decrease in the strength of the weld.
Therefore, when the parts are cut with air and then welded, the oxide layer on the section of the welded part needs to be polished to improve the welding quality.
In addition, the section will be oxidized after cutting, resulting in a yellow oxide layer, which will have an impact if the part is an appearance part. The oxide layer also affects welding, and the oxide layer must be polished before welding.
Aluminum plate and aluminum alloy plate
• For aluminum plate and aluminum alloy plate, using air as auxiliary gas can reduce the cutting burr. If nitrogen is used, the cutting burr will be larger.
• Delta Laser S6 “Aurora” series equipment 20,000W air cutting is suitable for cutting carbon steel plates below 20mm. Taking 14mm carbon steel plates as an example, the cutting efficiency is at least 2 times that of oxygen, and there is almost no burr at the bottom of the cutting.
Cutting data and effects
• From the perspective of cutting speed and effect, for customers who pursue processing efficiency, using air as an auxiliary gas is a cost-effective and wise choice, which can not only help customers save processing costs, but also optimize the cutting process.
Proper use of air cutting reduces production costs
• In the current increasingly fierce industry competition environment, increasing the added value of products by improving the difficulty of product technology and improving the level of product industrial design is one of the means to gain competitive advantage.
• Saving processing costs under the existing process is also an effective way to gain a competitive advantage. Selecting appropriate power and materials and using air as an auxiliary gas for material cutting can reduce cutting costs and bring more profits to the enterprise, thereby providing Provide more help for enterprise transformation and upgrading.