What is important when buying a laser cutting machine?

What are the differences between a CO2 laser and a fiber laser?

As the name suggests, the CO2 laser uses a gas mixture that is based on carbon dioxide. This mixture, which usually consists of CO2, nitrogen, and helium, is electrically excited to generate the laser beam. Solid-state lasers are available in the form of fiber or disk lasers in similar power levels to their CO2 counterparts. As with the CO2 laser, the laser-active medium gives the fiber laser its name, which in this case is a glass-like or crystalline solid in the form of a fiber or a disk.

While with the CO2 laser, the laser beam is guided through a beam path using optics, the beam of the fiber laser is generated in an active fiber and guided to the machine’s cutting head via a transport fiber. One of the key differences, apart from the laser medium as such, is its wavelength: With a fiber laser the laser wavelength is around 1µm and with a CO2 laser 10µm. The fiber laser’s shorter wavelength results in a higher absorption rate when cutting steel, stainless steel, and aluminum. A higher absorption rate means lower heat generation in the material that is being processed, which is, of course, a positive attribute.

CO2 technology is ideal for all-rounders who process a wide variety of materials and thick metal sheets. A fiber laser cutting system, on the other hand, is capable of processing the thin to thick range of sheet thicknesses with materials ranging from steel, stainless steel, and aluminum, right through to non-ferrous metals (copper and brass).