Compared to two-dimensional laser cutting, three-dimensional laser cutting requires constant adjustment of the laser cutting head posture to ensure that the laser cutting head is always perpendicular to the workpiece surface, thereby obtaining excellent cutting quality.
Working mechanism of 3D laser cutting
Laser cutting uses a high-power-density laser beam to scan the surface of a material, heating it to several thousand to tens of thousands of degrees Celsius in a very short time, causing the material to melt or vaporize. Then, high-pressure gas is used to blow the molten or vaporized material away from the cut, thus achieving the purpose of cutting the material.
Compared to 2D laser cutting, 3D laser cutting requires constant adjustment of the laser cutting head's posture to ensure it remains perpendicular to the workpiece surface, thus achieving superior cutting quality. In actual production, 3D laser cutting programming necessitates first creating a 3D model of the part, then importing it into a 3D programming system to generate the cutting path. Manual adjustments based on part and tooling features are also required to prevent head collisions, making the process complex and labor-intensive. However, because the cutting head of a 3D laser cutting machine is equipped with a capacitive sensor that automatically adapts to the part's shape and maintains a constant distance during cutting, the 2D programming system of the 3D laser cutting machine can meet production needs when the part's surface curvature does not change drastically.
Applications of 3D laser cutting
3D laser cutting is widely used in sheet metal processing, metal processing, advertising production, kitchenware, automobiles, lighting fixtures, saw blades, elevators, metal crafts, textile machinery, grain processing machinery, eyeglass manufacturing, aerospace, medical devices, and instrumentation industries. It has particularly replaced traditional processing methods in the sheet metal processing industry and is highly favored by users.
Materials that can be processed: stainless steel, carbon steel, alloy steel, silicon steel, spring steel, aluminum, aluminum alloy, galvanized sheet, aluminized zinc sheet, pickled sheet, copper, silver, gold, titanium and other metal sheets and pipes.
Applications in the manufacturing of aluminum alloy EMU trains. Three-dimensional laser cutting is mainly used for cutting and nesting the driver's cab skin of aluminum alloy EMU trains. The driver's cab skin is a thin sheet of aluminum alloy with a spatial curved surface structure, making it particularly suitable for cutting with three-dimensional lasers. After forming, nesting is performed using three-dimensional laser cutting. Compared to using a band saw for scribing and sawing, three-dimensional laser cutting offers significantly higher production efficiency and cutting precision.
Applications in stainless steel subway manufacturing. 3D laser cutting is mainly used for processing holes and notches in stainless steel subway door beams, end door pillars, inner stiffening plates, etc., and for nesting blind window stiffening plates.
For some parts formed by die extrusion, due to the high design and manufacturing cost of blanking dies, long manufacturing cycle, and poor blanking quality, three-dimensional laser processing is required for nesting and eyelet processing.
Advantages and disadvantages of 3D laser cutting
Production practice has proven that 3D laser cutting has the following advantages: ① High flexibility, adaptable to cutting and processing workpieces of different shapes. ② High precision, meeting the manufacturing precision requirements of products such as aluminum alloy EMU trains and stainless steel subway trains. ③ High economic benefits, as it can replace trimming dies and punching dies in traditional manufacturing processes. Its process steps are simple, the manufacturing cycle is short, the cutting speed is fast, the kerf width is small, and the processing quality is high, which can significantly reduce costs and shorten the development cycle of new vehicle models, demonstrating good economic value and application prospects.
3D laser cutting development trend
1. With the development of lasers towards higher power and the adoption of high-performance CNC and servo systems, high-power laser cutting can achieve high processing speeds while reducing the heat-affected zone and thermal distortion; the thickness of the material that can be cut has also been further increased.
2. Improve the processing technology based on the influence of laser cutting process parameters.
3. Laser cutting will develop towards high automation and intelligence. CAD/CAPP/CAM[4] and artificial intelligence will be applied to laser cutting to develop a highly automated multifunctional laser processing system.
4. Develop towards multi-functional laser processing centers, integrating quality feedback from various processes such as laser cutting, laser welding, and heat treatment to fully leverage the overall advantages of laser processing.
5. With the development of Internet and WEB technology, it has become an inevitable trend to establish a WEB-based network database, adopt fuzzy reasoning mechanisms and artificial neural networks to automatically determine laser cutting process parameters, and be able to remotely access and control the laser cutting process.
6. Three-dimensional high-precision large CNC laser cutting machine and its cutting process technology: In order to meet the needs of three-dimensional workpiece cutting in industries such as automobiles and aerospace, three-dimensional laser cutting machines are developing towards high efficiency, high precision, multi-functionality and high adaptability.
