Application analysis of industrial processing laser in mold processing

At present, there are two main types of industrial lasers used in laser processing: solid-state lasers and gas lasers. Among them, solid-state lasers are represented by Nd:YAG lasers; while gas lasers are represented by CO2 lasers. With the development of laser technology, people are now beginning to use high-power fiber lasers and high-power semiconductor lasers in certain processing applications.

1) Nd:YAG laser

The laser working material of the Nd:YAG laser is a solid Nd:YAG rod with a laser wavelength of 1.06μm. Due to the low laser conversion efficiency of this kind of laser and the limitation of the volume and thermal conductivity of the YAG rod, the average laser output power is not high. However, since the Nd:YAG laser can compress the pulse width of the laser output through the Q switch, it can obtain a high peak power (108W) when working in a pulse mode, which is suitable for laser processing applications that require high peak power; its other major advantage It can be transmitted through optical fibers, avoiding the design and fabrication of complex transmission optical paths, and is very useful in three-dimensional processing. In addition, the laser wavelength can be converted to 355nm (ultraviolet) through the frequency-tripping technology, which can be used in the laser three-dimensional shaping technology.

2) CO2 laser (Guide: As a feature of cutting tool grinding method on workpiece)

The laser working material of CO2 laser is CO2 mixed gas, and its main application laser wavelength is 10.6μm. Because the laser conversion efficiency of this kind of laser is high, and the heat generated by the laser work can be quickly transferred outside the laser gain region through convection or diffusion, and the average laser output power can reach a very high level (above 10,000 watts), which meets Requirements for high-power laser processing. High-power CO2 lasers used for laser processing at home and abroad, mainly cross-flow and axial-flow lasers:

①Cross-flow laser: The beam quality of the cross-flow laser is not very good. It is a multi-mode output and is mainly used for heat treatment and welding. my country has been able to produce a variety of high-power cross-flow CO2 laser series, which can meet the domestic demand for laser heat treatment and welding;

② Axial flow laser: The beam quality of the axial flow laser is good, and it is a fundamental mode or quasi-fundamental mode output. It is mainly used for laser cutting and welding. The laser cutting equipment market in my country is mainly occupied by foreign axial flow lasers. Although domestic laser manufacturers have done a lot of work on foreign axial flow lasers, the price of the products is difficult to drop significantly and the penetration rate is low because the main accessories still need to be imported.

With the new type of rotating gas flow, the swirl CO2 laser has the advantages of good beam quality of axial flow CO2 laser and low cost and small size of cross flow CO2 laser. The promotion and application of this kind of industrial processing laser will play a positive role in promoting the development and popularization of my country's laser processing industry. The selective laser melting (SLM) technology and the laser engineered net shaping (LENS) technology have the advantages of good compactness of the formed parts, high metallurgical bonding structure and high precision, and long life of the made molds. The industry has generally paid attention to it, and a variety of equipment prototypes have been launched abroad, and some have even begun to commercialize; while the current domestic research and application is still in its infancy.

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