What Applications is
Laser Cutting Best Suited For?
What Materials Are Suited
For Laser Processing?
What are the Advantages
And Disadvantages of Laser Processing?
What are The Limitations
on Laser Cutting?
Lasers are used for a wide variety of applications including: Cutting,
Engraving (Parts Identification, Bar Coding, Decorative Engraving).
Welding particularly materials subject to stress cracks or where
penetration must be tightly controlled Parts with low conductivity and
low reflectivity are ideal candidates for laser processing.
Some materials suited for laser processing include but by no means
limited to the materials listed below: Excellent candidates: · Wood ·
Ceramics · Leather, vinyl, cloth, suede · Plastic laminates, gasket
materials.
Laser cutting typically has a higher rate of cutting speed than Waterjet
depending on the material and thickness. · Laser cutting causes a recast
layer to form in the kerf that may be undesirable in some applications.
Many plastics melt and give off toxic fumes when cut by a Laser and so
need to be vented off according to regulatory requirements. Lasers are
unable to cut thicker reflective materials such as aluminum or copper.
Crystal, glass and other transparent materials are also unacceptable for
Laser cutting. In such cases you should consider water
jet cutting as an
alternative solution for such materials.