With the application of laser cutting machine, sheet metal processing technology has been developed rapidly, and has brought revolutionary ideas to sheet metal processing. As a traditional sheet metal cutting equipment, it is mainly CNC equipment, including shearing machine, punch, flame cutting, plasma cutting, high-pressure water cutting and other means. What are the advantages of laser cutting machine compared with it? Let's introduce them one by one.
(CNC) shearing machine is mainly used for straight cutting. Although it can cut the sheet metal up to 4 meters in one stroke, it can only be used for sheet metal processing that only requires straight cutting. It is generally used in industries that only need straight cutting, such as cutting after the plate is flattened.
(CNC/turret) punches have more flexibility in curve processing. A punch can have one or more sets of square, round or other special requirements punches, and can process some specific sheet metal workpieces at a time. The most common is the case and cabinet industry. The processing technology they require is mainly cutting straight lines, square holes, round holes, etc. The patterns are relatively simple and fixed. They mainly face the carbon steel plate with the width of 2.5m&times below 2mm; 1.25m。 The stainless steel with a thickness of more than 1.5mm is too viscous to use a die, and generally does not use a punch. Its advantage is that it can process simple figures and thin plates quickly, while its disadvantage is that it has limited ability to punch thick steel plates. Even if it can be punched, the workpiece surface will collapse, which will cost mold. The mold development cycle is long, the cost is high, and the degree of flexibility is not high enough. In foreign countries, more modern laser cutting is generally used for cutting steel plates of more than 2mm, instead of using a punch. On the one hand, the surface quality of thick steel plates is not high when punching and shearing; on the other hand, punching thick steel plates requires a punch with larger tonnage, wasting resources; on the other hand, the noise is too loud when punching thick steel plates, which is not conducive to environmental protection.
Flame cutting, as the original traditional cutting method, has low investment. In the past, the requirements for processing quality were not high. If the requirements were too high, it could be solved by adding a machining process. The market is very large. Now it is mainly used to cut thick steel plates with a thickness of more than 40mm. Its disadvantage is that the thermal deformation during cutting is too large, the kerf is too wide, wasting materials, and the processing speed is too slow, which is only suitable for rough processing.
Plasma cutting and fine plasma cutting are similar to flame cutting. The heat affected zone is too large, but the precision is much larger than flame cutting. The speed also has an order of magnitude leap, becoming the main force of medium plate processing. The actual cutting accuracy of the top CNC fine plasma cutting machine in China has reached the lower limit of laser cutting. When cutting 22mm carbon steel plate, it has reached a speed of more than 2 meters per minute, and the cutting end face is smooth and flat. The best slope can be controlled within 1.5 degrees. The disadvantage is that when cutting thin steel plates, the thermal deformation is too large, the slope is also large, and there is nothing to do when the accuracy is required. Consumables are expensive.
High pressure water cutting is to use the high speed water jet doped with carborundum to cut the sheet metal. It has almost no restrictions on the material, and the cutting thickness can almost reach more than 100mm. It can also cut ceramics, glass and other materials that are easy to burst when using thermal cutting. Copper, aluminum and other high reflective materials can be cut by water jet, but laser cutting has a big obstacle. The disadvantage of water cutting is that the processing speed is too slow, it is too dirty, it is not environmentally friendly, and the consumables are also high.
Laser cutting is a technological revolution in sheet metal processing; Machining center”. Laser cutting is characterized by high flexibility, fast cutting speed, high production efficiency and short production cycle, which has won a wide market for customers. Laser cutting without cutting force, processing without deformation; No tool wear, good material adaptability; No matter simple or complex parts, they can be cut by laser precision rapid prototyping in one time; The cutting seam is narrow, the cutting quality is good, the degree of automation is high, the operation is simple, the labor intensity is low, and there is no pollution; It can realize automatic cutting layout and nesting, improve the utilization rate of materials, lower production cost and good economic benefits. The effective life of this technology is long. At present, laser cutting is mostly used for the ultra structural 2mm plates abroad. Many foreign experts agree that the next 30-40 years will be the golden period for the development of laser processing technology (the direction of the development of sheet metal processing).