Laser Cutting Mild Steel With Nitrogen

When using nitrogen an inert gas the cutting process relies solely on the beam s energy to melt the metal.

Laser cutting mild steel with nitrogen.

At our shop we nitrogen cut 7ga p o at speeds of about 70 80ipm on ext and around 60ipm on internal. Meeting your nitrogen purity challenges the nitrogen purity is important if a clean cut edge is required for example when cutting stainless steel or aluminium metals. When cutting thin gauge material there s not much need for additional speed. For mild steel and stainless steel thick sheets the ideal pressure lies in the region between 10 and 15 bar.

Higher figures are possible with the most powerful lasers available. We have found how fast you can push depends on the material when we get higher carbon material. On amada fo3015 nt and 4020nt lasers. With nitrogen as an assist gas can you advise starting settings pressure power and speed.

I have a 160 w chinese laser that i would like to cut mainly 1 2 mm mild steel 1 2 mm stainless steel and up to 1 6 mm hr steel. When cutting stainless steel or carbon steel with nitrogen the laser melts the steel and the nitrogen assist gas evacuates the molten material leaving an oxide free edge. Nitrogen laser cutting is suitable for shaping mild steel although other factors affect the decision. If the steel is thicker than 1 8 in cutting speed is similar for both nitrogen and oxygen.

The examples of the adjustments made will be similar for any co2 or fiber laser cutting mild steel with o2. Nitrogen or oxygen can be used as the assist gas. Using nitrogen provides the most benefit when you are cutting very thin material. If you are cutting stainless steel or aluminium this is usually only cut with nitrogen or compressed air compressed air is typically used to laser cut material up to 2mm thick.

Cut the same sheet with oxygen assist gas and you get a rougher edge that needs clean up but thanks to the additional heat produced you can cut much faster. The following show 12 6 and 3 2 mm 1 2 1 4 and 10ga mild steel cut with oxygen on a 2kw fiber laser and examples of the same part cut with 1 variable changed to show how it affected the cut quality. Speed at times is reduced for a clean cut by 20. However if the laser cuts too fast turns a sharp corner or its focus is a little off you risk losing the cut and producing unusable parts.

Cutting mild steel. Also if your cutting mild steel that has mill scale. However there are two choices when cutting mild steel. Why laser cutting steel with nitrogen.

Laser cutting mild steel with nitrogen.