Laser cutting of flat materials, such as mild, stainless steel or aluminium regardless of grade or finish, is an established cutting technique known as laser profiling that is used throughout almost all sectors of manufacturing from Aerospace to Architecture. The main advantages of flat laser machining over traditional cutting methods such as milling or machining are:

• Components are produced quickly and accurately.
• Raw material costs are minimised with sophisticated nesting software used pre-cutting.
• Almost any design that can be drawn can be flat laser cut giving greater design flexibility.
• Design changes can be made at any stage of the product lifecycle without incurring costly tooling charges
• Cutting of holes, slots and profiles can be carried out in a single setup without the need for complicated jigs or fixtures.

How does laser cutting work?

The laser profiling process is relatively simple, a laser beam is generated from inside the laser cutting machine in an area called the resonator by arcing high voltage electricy between and anode and cathode in a gaseous enviroment which produces plasma, when required a shutter a bit like on a camera opens and allows the beam to travel to the cutting head via number of reflectors. The laser beam is then focused on to material and makes an initial pierce. The laser then carries out a lead in to the cutting path to carry out the necessary profiling.

The cutting process is then assisted by a  gas such as Nitrogen or Oxygen. This gas assists the cutting process by either helping to melt the material, such as in the case of mild steel or by protecting the molten material from the atmossphere and protecting in the case of stainless steel or aluminium . The laser head then moves around the material to provide the cut shape that is required.

The diagram below shows how the process works:

Laser cutting image

Which material can be cut by laser?

Most laser trimming is carried out on metals, up to around 25mm thick, such as:

• Stainless Steel
• Mild Steel
• Aluminium
• Zintec
• Titanium

With the exception of mild steel most material is cut with Nitrogen using the cutting method mentioned above.