The main consumables of laser cutting machines are all cutting nozzles, which play a crucial role in the processing process. Although the laser cutting machine industry is developing rapidly, the laser cutting nozzle has not undergone significant changes in recent years. Although there are many designs for supersonic nozzles, they have not been widely used in production due to the difficulty in machining their internal surfaces.
The main consumables of laser cutting machines are all cutting nozzles, which play a crucial role in the processing process. Although the laser cutting machine industry is developing rapidly, the laser cutting nozzle has not undergone significant changes in recent years. Although there are many designs for supersonic nozzles, they have not been widely used in production due to the difficulty in machining their internal surfaces.
For single-layer laser cutting nozzles, the following three types of nozzles are still the most widely used in the production process:
The most commonly used among them is the conical nozzle, which has the advantages of good cutting quality and high cutting accuracy. Generally used for nitrogen cutting of stainless steel, and also for precision and precision cutting with high surface requirements.
The double-layer laser cutting nozzle currently on the market is actually a simplified version of the supersonic nozzle studied in the laboratory, as shown in the following figure (the arrow refers to the inner core of the laser head nozzle):
After the auxiliary gas passes through the inner core, it undergoes secondary expansion to increase the gas velocity, and then reaches the working surface through the end hole. The advantage of this is that it can reduce the generation of shock waves, increase gas velocity, and thus improve the efficiency of gas participating in cutting, removing slag, and heat. By using an inner core, processing difficulty can be reduced, but another side effect is that its effect is not as good as that of a real supersonic nozzle! Moreover, the assembly requirements for the inner core are very high. Many nozzle processing factories often experience serious defects such as inner core detachment, inner core installation deviation, and excessive concentricity when making double-layer nozzles!
Double layer nozzles are generally used for high-speed cutting due to their high gas flow rate. Generally, double-layer nozzles are used to cut carbon steel with oxygen, which have a fast speed but wide cutting seams, and the cutting surface may turn black due to oxidation.
When choosing the nozzle of a laser cutting machine during the production process, we must make a reasonable selection based on the processing material and requirements, in order to make the laser cutting quality more perfect.
The quality of laser cutting nozzles is directly related to the quality of the entire laser cutting machine. Only by selecting a brand of laser accessory manufacturer can we achieve high optimization integration, high application efficiency, and strong technical quality assurance. Yichen Laser is a high-tech enterprise specializing in the research and development, production, sales, and integration of laser welding equipment and laser cutting equipment. We provide high-quality laser products and accessories, truly achieving that the entire process of leaving the factory has rules to follow, standards to follow, and product quality is stable and reliable.
Protective lenses in laser cutting machines.
Protective lenses, as the name suggests, are used to prevent dust and slag splashing from damaging the focusing lens. In addition to being used in laser cutting machines, they are also essential in other laser equipment, including laser marking, laser welding, and laser engraving. It can be seen that the application market for protective lenses is very large.
The prices of protective lenses on the market vary greatly, ranging from tens to hundreds of yuan, and the quality also varies. Of course, it is not uncommon to substitute inferior lenses. If the lens selection is not appropriate, it can cause large laser loss, frequent damage to protective lenses, unstable product quality, and serious losses to the enterprise. So, choosing the appropriate protective lenses is a very important thing to pay attention to.
There are three steps to selecting protective lenses for laser cutting machines:
1) Matching external dimensions is easy to understand;
2) Material: Based on different laser powers and considering usage costs, K9 and quartz can be selected. In practical applications, professional manufacturers divide these two types of materials into multiple grades, and customers can choose corresponding specifications according to their actual needs
3) Coating, laser antireflection coating, using different coating technical parameters according to the usage environment.
Although the protective lenses of laser cutting machines are vulnerable parts, in order to improve their utilization rate and reduce production costs, they can be cleaned regularly to achieve the purpose of reuse. The following are three cleaning steps summarized for high-energy lasers:
1. The protective lens material is ZnSe (arsenic zinc oxide), which is relatively brittle and afraid of falling; When disassembling, it should be noted that excessive force should not be exerted and there should be no collision with hard objects. There is an anti reflective film on the surface, which is afraid of contamination, moisture, oiliness, and scratching; Therefore, it is required to provide dry and degreased air during work, and do not directly handle the laser cutting machine to protect the lenses, as skin oil can cause permanent damage to the surface of the lenses. On the contrary, you can wear gloves and their specialized sets for operation. For smaller lenses, using optical tweezers or vacuum tweezers will be more convenient. No matter what method is used to clamp the laser cutting machine to protect the lens, it can only be clamped along a non optical surface, such as the frosted edge of the mirror plaque.
In general, it is necessary to check the condition of the laser cutting machine's protective lenses before and after use and cleaning. Due to the relatively small size of most pollutants and surface defects, we often need to use magnifying equipment when inspecting lenses. In addition to magnifying devices, sometimes we also need to use a relatively bright beam of light to illuminate the optical surface, enhancing the specular reflection intensity of surface pollutants and defects, so that pollutants and defects can be more easily detected.
When cleaning the protective lenses of a laser cutting machine, often use clean wiping paper and optical grade solvents to prevent damage by other pollutants. The wiping paper must be moistened with a suitable solvent and must not be used dry. In consideration of softness, the available wiping paper is pure cotton Webril wiping paper or cotton ball, lens paper, and cotton swab applicators.
