Development and advantages of ultra-high power fiber laser cutting machine

In the past few years, ultra-high power fiber laser cutting machine in the range of 10KW-40KW have been used more and more in metal cutting, and it is expected that the maximum laser power used for cutting metal will continue to increase in the next few years. Ultra-high power (UHP) fiber laser cutting machines can achieve efficient, high-precision cutting of thick plates, including air-assisted cutting of stainless steel, which will save you more assist gas costs.
 
Ultra-high power (UHP) fiber laser cutting machines generally refer to CNC laser cutting equipment with a power of more than 10KW. They have enabled a new process system to promote laser cutting to adapt to a larger market. For example, a 20KW UHP fiber laser cutting machine can cut carbon steel up to 20mm in batches with air assistance; using oxygen or nitrogen as an auxiliary gas, it can batch cut carbon steel up to 45mm. It is 4 times faster than high power plasma cutters. Thick plate cutting test results show that UHP fiber laser cutting machine is changing the way of cutting metal, it can replace nitrogen and oxygen cutting process with air-assisted cutting process to achieve high quality and high economic cutting goals.

Development of Fiber Laser Cutting Machine

 
Since the advent of laser cutting about 50 years ago, the technology of laser cutting has continued to evolve, both in terms of increased laser power and automation of machine operation. Fiber laser metal cutting machines have many advantages over other metal cutting equipment, including their ease of integration, high reliability, high cutting output, low maintenance costs, low operating costs, and the choice of multiple power ranges that make them Dominates the sheet metal cutting market.
 

Demand Trend of Fiber Laser Cutting Machine

 
At present, the market demand for metal laser cutting machines is divided into two directions. One is low-power metal laser cutting equipment, mainly 1000W-3000W laser cutting machines. This is because the price of low-power fiber laser cutting machines has fallen as the cost of lasers has fallen and the manufacturing technology of laser cutting machines has matured. This has caused users who have been using traditional metal cutting equipment to turn to laser metal cutting equipment.
The second is that the demand for ultra-high power laser cutting machines is also increasing. This is because the laser cutting field is undergoing a significant power conversion process as laser cutting technology matures. UHP laser cutting machines can provide higher productivity and higher technical capabilities, which are irreplaceable in other sheet metal manufacturing processes during this period. At the laser cutting machine trade show, the maximum laser power has risen from 6KW in 2015 to 40KW in 2022, an increase of nearly 7 times. This shows that ultra-high-power laser cutting machines have always been the needs and pursuits of users.
 

Advantages of Ultra High Power Fiber Laser Cutting Machine

 
Here is the test of 10KW, 12KW, 15KW fiber laser cutting machine cutting the same thickness steel plate. In the picture you can see that from 10KW to 12KW, the cutting efficiency is increased by 21%; from 10KW to 15KW, the cutting efficiency is increased by 46%. This indicates that a fiber laser cutting machine with higher power can further improve the productivity of metal workpieces. In the laser cutting metal process, the operating cost is mainly caused by the consumption of auxiliary gas (oxygen/nitrogen), and the gas cost tends to increase significantly with the increase of the thickness of the metal sheet cut. High-power laser cutting machines can be used to process thin sheets with air-assisted cutting, which eliminates the cost of gas consumption at all. Even though the UHP laser cutting machine requires oxygen or nitrogen to process thick plates, it cuts faster when using less or the same amount of gas, reducing the processing time per part, which also means gas consumption and electrical energy Consumption is greatly reduced.
Ultra-high power laser cutters significantly reduce the cost per part and bring a quick return on investment and higher profitability.
Ultra-high power fiber laser cutting machines make laser cutting more competitive in many ways, such as increased cutting thickness range, cutting edge quality, and cutting speed. With significantly increased productivity, one UHP laser cutting system can replace multiple low-power laser cutting systems, which also means users need a smaller footprint, fewer operators and less facility preparation.
 
With the continuous maturity of fiber laser cutting machine technology and the universality of application, it is believed that these advantages will greatly improve the development of metal manufacturing.