Advantages and disadvantages of laser processing metal pipes

Fiber laser tube cutting machine is particularly suitable for processing various metal tubes. Laser cutter is much better in terms of both precision and processing efficiency compared with traditional tube cutting methods that rely on manual sawing, sawing, roller extrusion, grinding wheel cutting, gas welding cutting, etc. Therefore, the application prospect of tube laser processing technology in processing metal tubes is very broad.

The tube laser cutting system has an incomparable advantage over traditional processing methods for a variety of processing methods of free-form surfaces and curves in space. In the process of processing, you should first ensure that the cut surface of the tube is cut through to obtain the required length of the tube blank. The traditional tube cutting methods are difficult to meet the needs of mass production, and the tube parts processed by these traditional processing methods have generally poor quality of cut surface, and some even have processing defects such as deformation and collapse. In addition to cutting tubes, some also require other forms of processing, such as: pattern cutting for decoration and lamps, spiral, sine, and cosine wire cutting, marking, etc. If these forms of tube processing use traditional processing methods, not only the processing efficiency is low, but also it is difficult to meet the ideal processing requirements, and some even cannot be processed at all. Production practice shows that the key to tube cutting is to eliminate the cutting quality defects to the greatest extent so as to meet the processing requirements. When processing complex tubes such as piercing, grooving, trimming or undercutting, the tube fiber laser cutting system can greatly guarantee the processing quality.

Advantages of laser processing metal tubes

Laser processing of metal tubes has many advantages such as narrow cut width, small heat-affected zone, fast cutting speed, good flexibility, smooth cut and no tool wear, and it is easier to realize automated and intelligent production mode. The tube laser cutting system cuts tubes (including tangent, oblique cutting, forming cutting, etc.). The cut width is generally 0.1 to 0.3 mm. Compared with traditional processing methods, the cutting efficiency can be increased by 8 to 20 times, and the processing cost is reduced by 70% to 90%， which can save 15% to 30% of material loss. Tube laser cutting system equipped with automatic loading and unloading can the job in one step while traditional processing methods require multiple continuous processes to complete the whole thing.

Problems in laser processing of metal tubes

When the tube is cut (especially for the square tube with small tube diameter), the molten slag adheres to the inner wall of the tube, and most of the heat generated by the cutting is absorbed by the workpiece. When the cutting density is high, the tube will overheat, overburning of the corners seriously affects the quality of the incision, and even cannot be cut. At present, the quality problems existing in the laser tube cutting process such as overburning of the cutting point of the parts, overburning of the corners of the parts, inclination of the cutting surface, and deformation of the circle when cutting round parts or failure to close, etc., directly lead to serious waste of the tube and cutting production low efficiency. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen in-depth research on these aspects.

Professional tube nesting software is the basis and prerequisite for realizing large-volume, high-efficiency and high-quality cutting production of CNC tube cutting machines. Through professional tube cutting and nesting software, pre-program drawing, nesting, and blanking on the computer to generate NC cutting programs, and then perform full-stroke automatic laser cutting and blanking of large-length metal tubes. When changing the diameter or shape of the tube, you only need to modify the program. Therefore, the development of tube cutting software is of great research value.

Realizing the complete automation of the entire process of raw steel tubes from feeding, conveying, length fixing to cutting finished tubes after cutting, and transporting to the next link of the assembly line is the current technical solution pushed by many laser equipment companies, and it is also the mainstream. It is also of great significance for laser companies to continue to strengthen the research on automatic tube laser cutting production lines.