Since its discovery, lasers have played a crucial role in several industries. The high intensity light beam is so powerful and exhibits immense energy that can cut through or make perforations in any material. On top of this, it is environment-friendly as laser machines usually do not consume too much electricity. Instead, the electrons are accelerated within to generate the required amount of heat and pressure for the purpose. Owing to all these benefits, laser has found its way in the manufacturing and fabrication industry. Needless to say, it has revolutionized the entire metal processing technique, allowing professionals to finish metal cutting with optimal finesse, minimal material damage, and higher productivity.
The two types of laser cutting technique used in the manufacturing and fabrication industries are CO2 and fiber. While both have numerous similarities, knowing about their dissimilarities will help you make the right call and choose the most feasible and appropriate option for your project. After all, your main goal is to utilize the laser technique to increase efficiency, reduce production delays, and enhance accuracy and precision. That being said, we have highlighted the major differences between these two types of laser cutting techniques for sheet metal processing.
Sources of the laser beam
Fiber laser
First of all, fiber lasers are often termed as solid-state lasers because they are produced by a solid material, made by doping optical fibers with rare-earth elements like neodymium, erbium, and thulium. The optical fiber is usually made by using silica glass, which is then fused with the desired rare-earth metal to produce the beam with expected intensity and wavelength. Most fiber optics can generate laser beams with extremely narrow wavelengths, approximately around 1064 nm, which is why it exhibits a high level of precision in sheet metal processing.
CO2 laser
CO2 lasers, on the other hand, utilize a mixture of gases, including carbon dioxide in the maximum portion as its source. Nitrogen is also added in the mixture to induce population inversion during the laser generation process where the number of excited electrons increases ten fold than the non-excited electrons. Depending on the type of chamber or tube used for storing the gaseous mixture, the CO2 laser machine can be classified into three types, namely glass, metal, and ceramic. While glass tubes are no longer used in containing the gases, ceramic and metal chambers are quite prevalent as they require less energy and can produce high intensity beams in no time.
Material compatibility
Fiber laser
Since a fiber laser cutting machine produces a beam with shorter wavelength, it has lower penetration power but higher intensity. As a result, you cannot use it for cutting non-metals or metals having high material thickness. Metals like aluminum, stainless steel, mild steel, and so on can be easily cut with the fiber lasers. However, the sheet metal thickness needs to be extremely small in terms of the value so that the beam can cut through the material without reflecting back and damaging the optical components.
CO2 laser
CO2 laser, on the other hand, is best-suited for cutting non-metals and metals having higher material thicknesses. For instance, it can easily cut through stainless steels covered with a thin plastic coating. The plastic coat will absorb the high energy electrons in the first cut, thereby reducing the reflection rate and preventing any damage to then optical parts. The main reason for the compatibility of CO2 lasers with thicker materials is due to the higher beam wavelength, which ultimately results in increased penetration power.
Work speed and power
Fiber laser
Cutting speed and power of fiber lasers are directly proportional to one another. It means that one can easily achieve a much higher cutting speed just by increasing the power consumption rating of the fiber laser cutting machine. In ideal conditions, it exhibits an excellent cutting speed for thin metal sheets, while maintaining accuracy and precision. However, for thicker sheets, you need to increase the power so that the beam produced can have higher penetration capacity and cut through the material faster.
CO2 laser
CO2 lasers also exhibit high cutting speed. But it remains unmatched with the fiber lasers when thin metal sheets are considered. Due to its higher penetration capacity even at low power input, you need to slow down the process by reducing the cutting speed so as to avoid any material damage or beam reflection. This further reduces the overall efficiency and leads to unwanted production delays. Owing to this reason, CO2 lasers are primarily used in cutting metal or non-metal sheets having higher thickness.
Efficiency and productivity
Fiber laser
When it comes to efficiency and productivity, fiber lasers are certainly the winner. Its intense beam and higher energy can cut through the metal sheets with optimal finesse, ensuring higher quality along the edges. Furthermore, the higher cutting speed ensures more number of sheets to be processed within a single cycle. That’s why you can easily enhance the work efficiency and reduce production leaks and delays with the fiber lasers.
CO2 laser
CO2 lasers, on the other hand, produce less power output than the fiber lasers for the same input power. As a result, the cutting speed and precision are not matched perfectly. This can cause serious delays in the deliverables and also affect the overall quality of sheet metal processing technique. Most often, these lasers are used to cut thicker materials or in projects that require more strength than accuracy and precision.
Operating costs and overheads
Fiber laser
When it comes to the costs, fiber lasers are at a disadvantage. Due to the involvement of advanced fiber optics, use of rare-earth metals, and complicated mechanical parts, the machines come at a whopping high cost. Furthermore, the overheads involved are also high since these machines are usually equipped with automated routines and CAD/CAM software.
CO2 laser
If you have limited budget bandwidth, sticking to the CO2 laser machine seems to be a more feasible option. They can be used for cutting more metals and non-metals, which will further reduce the need to implement another machine separately to handle different types of sheet materials.
Conclusion
Both CO2 and fiber laser cutting machines are widely used in the manufacturing and fabrication industries. However, with differences in their cutting speed, power consumption, efficiency, accuracy, and many other variables, making the right choice will require in-depth understanding of the project, deliverables, and expected quality.