The way metal raw materials are processed into finished products is quietly changing, and some manufacturers no longer use sharp tools to cut workpiece, but instead use lasers, known as laser cutting.Here are five interesting facts about laser cutting technology.

It has existed for more than half a century

Although it sounds like a modern cutting technique, laser cutting has actually been around for more than half a century.In the mid-1960s, researchers at western Electrical Engineering Research Centers produced the world's first laser cutter for cutting holes in diamonds.

Some laser cutting machines can also be used for welding

Depending on the type, the laser cutter can also perform the welding process.There are several types of laser cutting machines: CO2, Nd, Nd: YAG and fiber laser cutting machines.Among them, CO2, Nd: YAG, fiber laser cutting machine can perform the welding process, the only thing that cannot do this point is Nd.

An optical lens focuses the laser to just 0.001 of an inch

Optical lenses used in laser cutters play an important role in high-tech cutting by focusing a high-power laser into an area of the workpiece that is just 0.001 inch in diameter. All the heat generated by the laser is concentrated in this small area, allowing for high-precision cutting.

You need a lot of power

Laser cutting requires a lot of electricity, and commercial laser cutting machines have efficiency grades of 5 to 45 percent, much of which is wasted.The actual power consumed by laser cutting depends on the particular type of machine and the output Settings configured for it, but compared with other cutting processes, the power consumed by laser cutting is still considerable.

Laser cutting requires the use of gas

When the laser heats the workpiece, pressurized gas coaxial with the beam blows the slag off the surface to help simplify and speed up the cutting process.