We all know that laser cutting is a very mature product, so as a layman, do you know how powerful the laser diode used for laser cutting is? What color is it?

Let's start with a conclusion: the power of a laser that can really cut metal is generally between tens of watts and several kilowatts.

Ordinary low-power laser diodes (such as 1mW, 5mW, 50mW) are far from enough, and they can only be used for light-load applications such as ranging, positioning, scanning and indication.

In laser cutting, there are three common laser types:

Fiber laser

The power generally starts from 500W, and the high power can reach tens of thousands of watts, which is mainly used for metal cutting, such as stainless steel, carbon steel and aluminum plate.

Its light source core is not a single small diode, but hundreds of high-power laser diode arrays synthesize pump light, and finally output it through optical fiber combination.

semiconductor laser

This kind is what we often call "laser diode array". A single laser diode is generally tens of milliwatts to several watts,

The power of multiple packages can reach 10W, 50W, 100W or even higher, which is widely used in plastic welding, leather cutting, thin metal marking and so on.

Co laser

It belongs to gas laser, the power is often tens of watts to hundreds of watts, and it is mainly used to cut non-metallic materials, such as acrylic, wood, cloth and rubber.

Therefore, if we say "laser diode for laser cutting", it usually refers to the high-power semiconductor laser module with multi-core package. The power starts above 10W, the energy density is high enough, and the light spot can be focused very small.

What types of laser cutting are there?

It depends on the wavelength of the laser diode. Different wavelengths correspond to different colors, which also determines what materials it is more suitable for cutting:

808nm/915nm/940nm is commonly used in high-power semiconductor lasers for metal welding and plastic cutting. 450nm has high blue light absorption rate and is suitable for cutting materials with high reflectivity, such as copper, aluminum, plastic and wood. 1064nm infrared is commonly used in fiber laser cutting machines. The laser diode power for laser cutting stainless steel, iron and aluminum plates is about 10W to several hundred W, and the color is mostly near infrared (808

The beam of light that can really cut materials is actually "invisible", but the energy is extremely high, which is also the secret that the laser cutting machine can cut a few millimeters thick metal instantly.