9 Key Inspection Points of Laser Cutting Here are a list of 9 standards to judge the quality of laser cutting, which directly determine the performance of laser cutting equipment.
1. Roughness. Vertical grain will be formed in the laser cutting section. The depth of grain decides the roughness of cutting surface; the shallower grain makes the cutting section more smooth. Roughness affects not only the marginal appearance but also frictional characteristic. In most cases, roughness should be reduced to the greatest extent, so the shallower grain means better cutting quality. 2. Perpendicularity. Perpendicularity of the cut edge is very important when the thickness of metal plate is over 10mm. When far away from the focus, the laser beam will become diverging and the top or bottom cutting will become broadening. The more vertical the edge, the better the cutting quality. 3. Cutting width. Generally speaking, cutting width doesn't affect cutting quality. Only when there is ultra-precise profile in inner components, will the cutting width become influential. This is because that it decides the minimal lumen diameter (MLD) of profile, when the thickness of plate increases, the cutting width should increase accordingly. No matter how big the kerf width is, the laser cutting processing area of workpieces should be constant in order to achieve high precision. 4. Pattern. When under high-speed cutting by laser, the molten metal won't appear in the kerf but spray behind the laser beam. As a result, grain distortions occur in cut edge. To amend this defect, the feed rate should be reduced in the end of cutting process.
5. Burrs. Burr is a critical factor of cutting quality, for that it need extra work load for burr removal. Quantity of burr is a intuitive judgment of cutting quality. 6. Material deposition. Before melting and punching, laser cutting machine will touch a special thickness of oily liquid, Which will cause material deposition easily.
7. Depression and erosion. Depression and erosion have side effects on appearance, which can be avoided in the most occasion. 8. Heat-affected area. It is defined as the depth of area which has inner structure changes. 9. Deformation. It occurs when there is severely heating. It is especially important in elaborate processing, since there are usually a few tenths of millimeter between profile and connector. Deformation can be avoided by the control of laser power and the use of short pulse laser.