In addition to glass, the laser cutting process is suitable for a wide range of materials, including metal, plastic, wood, gemstone and paper, and can produce precise, intricate, and complex parts without the need for custom-designed tooling. Glass Laser cutting can produce parts with precision and high-quality edge finishes, and with generally less material contamination, physical damage and waste than with other conventional cutting processes, such as mechanical cutting and waterjet cutting.
Is it possible to laser cut anything?
While the laser cutting of glass demonstrates certain advantages over more conventional cutting processes, some manufacturing applications can be problematic, such as cutting reflective material or material requiring secondary machining and finishing work. The requirements and specifications demanded by a particular cutting application – e.g., materials and their properties, energy and power consumption limits, secondary finishing, etc. – help determine the type of cutting process most suitable for use.
How does laser cutting apply to glass?
Glass laser cutting is mainly a thermal process in which a focused laser beam is used to melt material in a localised area. A co-axial gas jet is used to eject the molten material and create a kerf. A continuous cut is produced by moving the laser beam or glass under CNC control.
There are three major varieties of laser cutting: fusion cutting, flame cutting and remote cutting. In fusion cutting, an inert gas (typically nitrogen) is used to expel molten material out of the kerf. Nitrogen gas does not exothermically react with the molten material and thus does not contribute to the energy input. In flame cutting, oxygen is used as the assist gas. In addition to exerting mechanical force on the molten material, this creates an exothermic reaction which increases the energy input to the process. Improvements in accuracy, edge squareness and heat input control result in the glass laser cutting process increasingly replacing other profiling cutting techniques, such as plasma and oxy-fuel.
