Can aluminum plates be laser cut?

Aluminum sheet processing is often encountered in processing. One of the problems is whether aluminum sheet can be cut by laser? The answer is yes.

A few years ago, the laser cutting machine was able to cut aluminum plates. At that time, workers used ink to apply ink to the aluminum plates (it is said that because the aluminum plates have high reflectivity, they are afraid of reflecting the laser). During cutting, the laser parameters are very difficult to adjust. At that time, only aluminum plates with a thickness of 1 mm could be cut. After accumulating experience, the cut of the aluminum plate is also very smooth and there is no dross.

Laser cutting aluminum plates also depends on the power of the laser generator. The thickness of 6000W can be cut to 16mm, and 4500W can be cut to 12mm, but the processing cost is high, because this is a highly reflective material, and laser cutting uses focused The high-power density laser beam irradiates the workpiece to quickly melt, vaporize, ablate or reach the ignition point of the irradiated material. At the same time, the molten material is blown away by the high-speed airflow coaxial with the beam to realize the cutting of the workpiece.

Is the cut surface of laser cut aluminum plate as smooth as cutting other materials?

The cut of the aluminum plate is also smooth. The aluminum plate is only a highly reflective material and requires a large laser generator. The cutting gas is the same as other materials. It is cut with nitrogen and will not cause the surface to be uneven.

Aluminum plate is cut by laser. Features:

•  The cutting seam is fine: the cutting seam of laser cutting aluminum plate is generally 0.1mm-0.2mm
• The cutting surface is smooth: the cutting surface of the laser cut aluminum plate has no burrs and no dross.
• Small thermal deformation: The laser processing of laser processing has thin slits, fast speed, and concentrated energy, so the heat transferred to the material to be cut is small, and the deformation of the material is also very small.
• Material saving: The laser processing adopts computer programming. The laser equipment can cut the aluminum plate processing parts of different shapes, which improves the material utilization rate of the aluminum plate and saves a lot of material cost.
• The thickness of the aluminum plate that can be cut depends mainly on the power of the laser generator. Generally, the thickness of 6000W can be cut to 16mm, and the thickness of 4500W can be cut to 12mm.

Summary: According to personal experience, the price of carbon dioxide laser machine is relatively low, and the power of the laser generator is large. You can try to cut aluminum plate when you need it. Note that what I said above is to coat the aluminum plate with a black light-absorbing color to prevent reflections from burning the lens or laser head. As for the fiber laser machine, it is better not to cut the aluminum plate. The gain is not worth the loss. Choose other methods to process the aluminum plate.

Notes for laser cutting aluminum sheet: Aluminum sheet is a high-reflection material, which will damage the laser greatly, so use it as little as possible. It is recommended that all aluminum plates below 6 mm can be processed by CNC punching machine, and aluminum plates above 6 mm can be processed by water cutting.