3 Fehler, die beim Laserschneiden von Metall vermieden werden sollten

Warping is another difficult challenge that engineers face when using laser cutting machines to manufacture sheet metal parts. When the laser beam acts on the metal for cutting, the metal quickly absorbs the energy of the laser and converts it into heat energy, which in turn causes the metal to heat up. As the temperature rises, the metal expands. 

But the problem is that the expansion process of metal is not uniform. On the one hand, different metal materials have different thermal expansion coefficients. For example, aluminum alloy and stainless steel have completely different expansion degrees under the same temperature change; on the other hand, the manufacturing process of the material, such as rolling direction, internal organizational structure and other factors, will also affect the uniformity of the expansion of the metal when heated. The combined effect of these factors makes it very likely that the metal will bend and deform during the thermal expansion process, which is what we call warping.

This warping phenomenon will bring many practical problems to engineers. For parts that are originally designed to be assembled together accurately, once warping occurs, the shape and size of the parts will deviate from the design expectations, making it difficult for them to fit perfectly during assembly. This will not only prolong the assembly time and increase labor costs, but in severe cases, it will even cause the parts to be scrapped, resulting in a waste of resources and an increase in production costs. 

From the perspective of structural mechanics, warping will also bring serious hidden dangers to structural components. When a structural component warps, its internal stress distribution will become uneven, and its original ability to carry loads evenly will be destroyed. When subjected to external loads, the warped part is more likely to produce stress concentration, thereby reducing the overall strength and load-bearing capacity of the component. In some application scenarios with extremely high requirements for structural strength, such as aerospace, automobile manufacturing and other fields, the warping deformation of components may cause serious safety accidents.

Therefore, engineers must be highly cautious when using laser cutting machines to manufacture sheet metal components. In the material selection stage, you can consider using metal materials with a smaller thermal expansion coefficient and more stable performance, such as some special alloy materials. In the design stage, the redundancy of the structure should be appropriately increased, and the shape and layout of the parts should be reasonably adjusted to reduce the risk of warping caused by thermal deformation. At the same time, in terms of process parameter setting, by optimizing parameters such as laser power, cutting speed, and cooling method, the uneven heating of the metal during the cutting process can be minimized as much as possible. If necessary, thicker metal plates can be considered, because thicker plates have better resistance to thermal deformation to a certain extent, or the complexity of the design can be reduced, and the use of complex shapes and thin-walled structures can be reduced, thereby reducing the probability of warping.