Differences between Plasma Cutting and Laser Cutting Machines

1. Introduction of plasma cutting machine and laser cutting machine

Plasma cutting machine is a new type of hot cutting equipment, and its working principle is to use compressed air as the working gas, with high temperature and high speed plasma arc as the heat source, to melt the cutting metal partially, and at the same time with high speed airflow to blow away the melted metal, forming a narrow slot. While laser cutting is the use of high energy density laser beam heating workpiece to make the temperature rise rapidly, to reach the boiling point of the material in a very short time, and the material began to vaporize to form steam.These vapors are ejected at high velocies. As the vapors are ejected, they make incisions in the material.

Steel pipe laser cutting machine is the use of high power and high density laser beam to scan the surface of the material, which can heat the material to thousands of degrees Celsius or even tens of thousands of degrees in a very short time, and make the material melt or vaporize. And then, it can use high pressure gas to blow away the melted or other materials from the cutting gap. The best Chinese fiber laser uses an invisible beam instead of the traditional mechanical knife for laser cutting, with fast laser cutting speed, smooth incision, and not need post processing. In addition, the cutting is less affected by heat, so plate deformation is small.

2. Difference between plasma and laser cutting

After knowing plasma cutting machine and laser cutting machine respectively, we will introduce the differences between plasma cutting machine and laser cutting machine in  the following.

Their difference lies in the different cutting accuracy. The plasma cutting accuracy can reach within 1mm, while the laser cutting accuracy can reach within 0.22mm. In the cost, the plasma cutting machine is cheaper than laser cutting machine. However, in the machining accuracy, plasma cutting is equivalent to rough processing, and laser cutting is equivalent to fine processing.