Laser cutting

With laser cutting it is necessary to differentiate between two fundamentally different techniques (this applies only to a limited extent to laser precision cutting):

Oxygen-assisted laser cutting (cutting gas O2, cut edges affected by a brown/black recast layer)	Inert gas-assisted laser cutting (inert cutting gas is nitrogen N2 or argon Ar under high pressure, cut edges oxide-free)
Application: For iron and ferrous materials. In other words, primarily for structural steels and stainless steels.	Application: For most types of steel, special advantages for stainless steels. For aluminium and aluminium alloys. In special cases for titanium implants (where nitration of the cut edges is not permissible, use of argon Ar entails very high gas costs).

What is the difference between laser cutting and laser precision cutting?

As a guide we offer the following unofficial definition:

We apply the term precision cutting to all cutting operations where:

the remaining web width on a workpiece is equal to or smaller than the material thickness

and / or
the cut width to be produced is very small in relation to the material thickness (e.g. 40µ in 1.5 mm material).

This field of work is mainly, though not exclusively, the preserve of Nd:YAG laser technology.

Limitations of laser cutting
The following should be examined if they are found to be relevant due to workpiece specifications, especially in the case of implants:

Formation of residual dross/burrs or tendency to do so
Heat-affected zone: Increased hardness due to change in structure susceptibility to corrosion due to carbon depletion
Increased hardness of the cut edges of titanium due to nitration (cutting gas N2)
Release of highly toxic atomic vanadium from titanium alloys
Non-permissible residual roughness
Tapered cut edges

LASTEC AG
Mattenstrasse 6
CH-2555 Brügg BE
Switzerland

Tel. +41 (0)32 374 41 41
Fax +41 (0)32 374 41 42

info(at)lastec.ch

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