What are the differences between laser cutting, water cutting, plasma cutting and wire cutting?
With the development of technology, the materials used have become more diverse, and more and more cutting methods have emerged, such as laser cutting, water cutting, plasma cutting, wire cutting... Each cutting method has its own unique advantages... What are the differences between them? For now
(1) The mainstream product in the market now is fiber lasers, while carbon dioxide lasers are gradually being phased out due to their high energy consumption. However, there is still a market in the non-metallic field.
(2) Since the domestic production of lasers, the price of fiber optic equipment has dropped significantly in the low to medium power range.
(3) Other cutting methods besides laser are in high demand in the plasma and wire cutting markets. However, wire cutting is more targeted at the mold industry, and plasma is more needed in thick plates or situations with low precision requirements. Water jet cutting is no longer common in the metal industry, but there are many in the non-metallic field.
(4) In the future development, laser cutting is likely to dominate in thin metal plates, including non-metallic cutting, which will also occupy a significant portion of the market.
Next, let's analyze these cutting techniques.
Optical cutting is the use of a focused high-power density laser beam to irradiate a workpiece, causing the irradiated material to quickly melt, vaporize, burn, or reach the ignition point. At the same time, high-speed airflow coaxial with the beam is used to blow away the molten material, thereby achieving the cutting of the workpiece. Nowadays, CO2 pulse lasers are commonly used, and laser cutting is one of the thermal cutting methods.
Water cutting, also known as waterjet cutting technology, is a machine that uses high-pressure water flow for cutting. Under the control of a computer, workpieces can be carved freely and are minimally affected by material texture. Water cutting is divided into two methods: sand free cutting and sand added cutting.
Plasma arc cutting is a machining method that uses the heat of a high-temperature plasma arc to locally melt (and evaporate) the metal at the cutting edge of a workpiece, and uses the momentum of high-speed plasma to remove the molten metal to form a cutting edge.
Wire Electrical Discharge Machining (WEDM), also known as wire cutting, belongs to the category of electrical machining. Wire cutting can be divided into fast wire cutting, medium wire cutting, and slow wire cutting. The wire cutting speed of fast wire EDM is 6-12 m/s, and the electrode wire moves back and forth at high speed, resulting in poor cutting accuracy. Medium wire EDM is a new technology developed in recent years that achieves frequency conversion multiple cutting functions on the basis of fast wire cutting. The wire speed of slow wire EDM is 0.2m/s, and the electrode wire moves in a low-speed unidirectional direction, resulting in high cutting accuracy.
Comparison of Application Scope
The application range of laser cutting machine is very wide, whether it is metal or non-metal, it can cut. For cutting non-metal materials such as fabrics and leather, CO2 laser cutting machine can be used, and for cutting metal, fiber laser cutting machine can be used. The deformation of sheet metal is small.
Water cutting belongs to cold cutting, with no thermal deformation, good cutting surface quality, and no need for secondary processing. It is also easy to perform secondary processing if necessary. Water cutting can drill and cut any material with fast cutting speed and flexible processing dimensions.
Plasma cutting machines can be used for cutting various metal materials such as stainless steel, aluminum, copper, cast iron, and carbon steel. Plasma cutting has obvious thermal effects, low accuracy, and the cutting surface is not easy to undergo secondary processing.
Wire cutting can only cut conductive materials, and requires cutting coolant during the cutting process. Therefore, it cannot cut non-conductive materials such as paper and leather that are afraid of water and contamination from cutting coolant.
2. Comparison of cutting thickness
The application of laser cutting carbon steel in industry is generally below 20mm, and the cutting capacity is generally below 40mm. The industrial application of stainless steel is generally below 16mm, and the cutting capacity is generally below 25mm. And as the thickness of the workpiece increases, the cutting speed decreases significantly.
Breakthrough 30mm fiber laser cutting of sheet metal
The thickness of water cutting can be very thick, ranging from 0.8 to 100mm, or even thicker materials.
The plasma cutting thickness is 0-120mm, and the optimal cutting quality range is around 20mm. The plasma system with a thickness of about 20mm has the highest cost-effectiveness.
The thickness of wire cutting is generally 40-60mm, and the thickest can reach 600mm.
3 Comparison of cutting speeds
Cutting 2mm thick low-carbon steel plate with a laser power of 1200W, with a cutting speed of up to 600cm/min; Cut 5mm thick polypropylene resin board with a cutting speed of up to 1200cm/min. The cutting efficiency that can be achieved by wire EDM is generally between 20-60 square millimeters per minute, with a maximum of 300 square millimeters per minute; Obviously, laser cutting speed is fast and can be used for large-scale production.
The water cutting speed is quite slow and not suitable for mass production.
Plasma cutting has a slow cutting speed and relatively low accuracy, making it more suitable for cutting thick plates, but the end face has a slope.
For metal processing, wire cutting has higher accuracy, but the speed is very slow. Sometimes, other methods such as perforation and threading are required for cutting, and the cutting size is greatly limited.
4. Comparison of cutting accuracy
The laser cutting incision is narrow and fine, with both sides of the incision parallel and perpendicular to the surface. The dimensional accuracy of the cut part can reach ± 0.2mm.
Plasma can reach within 1mm.
Water cutting does not produce thermal deformation, with an accuracy of ± 0.1mm. If a dynamic water cutting machine is used, the cutting accuracy can be improved, reaching ± 0.02mm and eliminating cutting slopes.
The precision of wire cutting processing is generally ± 0.01 to ± 0.02mm, with a maximum of ± 0.004mm.
Comparison of 5 cutting widths
Laser cutting is more precise than plasma cutting, with a smaller cutting gap of around 0.5mm.
The cutting gap of plasma cutting is larger than that of laser cutting, about 1-2mm.
The cutting seam of water cutting is about 10% larger than the diameter of the blade tube, usually between 0.8~1.2mm. As the diameter of the sand blade tube expands, the incision also becomes larger.
The cutting width of wire cutting is the smallest, generally around 0.1-0.2mm.
Comparison of Surface Quality for Cutting 6
The surface roughness of laser cutting is not as good as that of water cutting, and the thicker the material, the more obvious it is.
Water cutting will not change the texture of the material around the cutting seam (laser belongs to thermal cutting and will change the texture around the cutting area).
Comparison of Production Input Costs
1) Laser cutting machines have different prices for different purposes, with cheap ones like carbon dioxide laser cutting machines costing only 20000 to 30000 yuan, and expensive ones like 1000W fiber laser cutting machines costing over one million yuan. Laser cutting does not have consumables, but the equipment investment cost is the highest among all cutting methods, and it is not a little higher. The maintenance cost is also quite high.
2) Compared to laser cutting machines, plasma cutting machines are much cheaper. Depending on the power and brand of the plasma cutting machine, the price varies and the usage cost is higher. Basically, as long as conductive materials can be cut, they can be used.
3) The cost of water cutting equipment is second only to laser cutting, with high energy consumption and maintenance costs. The cutting speed is not as fast as plasma because all abrasives are disposable and are discharged into nature after one use, resulting in serious environmental pollution.
4) Wire cutting usually costs around tens of thousands of yuan. But wire cutting requires consumables such as molybdenum wire and cutting coolant. There are two commonly used types of wire in wire cutting. One is molybdenum wire (molybdenum is precious), which is used in fast wire cutting equipment. The advantage of molybdenum wire is that it can be reused multiple times; Another method is to use copper wire (which is much cheaper than molybdenum wire anyway) for slow wire equipment, but the disadvantage is that copper wire can only be used once. In addition, fast wire cutting machines are much cheaper than slow wire cutting machines, with the price of one slow wire cutting machine equivalent to 5 or 6 fast wire cutting machines.
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