Product Code: ICA12_M1208

Pulsed Laser Cutting of Bright Metals
Authors:
Paul Harrison, SPI Lasers UK Ltd; Southampton Great Britain
Jack Gabzdyl, SPI Lasers UK Ltd; -
Presented at ICALEO 2012

Profile cutting of thin sheet bright metals can be achieved in a cost effective manner through the use of a pulsed fiber laser in conjunction with a galvanometric scanhead without co-axial assist gas. This is attractive where many batches of distinct small parts are manufactured in volume, for instance within the jewellery and the micro-electronics industries.

In this paper the capabilities of a pulsed fiber laser are considered in detail when processing bright metals such as brass, copper and silver. The effect of key laser parameters such as peak power, temporal pulse shape and laser pulse frequency will be considered along with several process parameters such as pulse overlap and beam wobbling techniques. This is with the aim of producing parts at high speed and/or at high quality and to determine the maximum thickness that can be cut at effective speeds. The results will be compared and contrasted with other metals such as stainless steel and aluminium to determine the range of processing strategies needed to cut these materials.