Laser cutting VS plasma cutting, wha's the difference?

Since the introduction of plasma cutting and laser cutting into the manufacturing industry, many processes across the industry have changed dramatically, but which of the two cutting methods should you choose when cutting materials? It has also caused a lot of trouble, so let's understand the difference between them.

Differences in principle

Laser cutting is the use of an amplified lase beam to cut the material,it uses optics to focus the laser into a small point,relying on high-temperature melting or gasification of the part of achieve cutting.

So, plasma cutting is different in principle from laser cutting, plasma cutting uses plasma, while laser cutting uses an amplified laser.

Apply

The ion cutting machine is suitable for cutting, cutting holes and chamfering of a variety of metal materials, mainly used for cutting medium thickness metal plates, and is widely used in automobiles, pressure vessels, nuclear industry, construction machinery, ships and other industries.

Laser cutting has a wider range of applications than plasma cutting, in addition to cutting a variety of metal materials, it can also cut non-metallic materials such as wood, acrylic, ceramics, glass, rubber, textiles, etc., however, laser cutting is not suitable for cutting highly reflective materials for a long time, such as purple copper, etc., and is more suitable for cutting medium and thin plates, but with higher precision, it is widely used in automobile manufacturing, aerospace, power and petroleum equipment manufacturing, decoration, advertising, lighting, sheet metal processing and other industries.

Advantages and disadvantages:

Plasma cutting is a low-cost cutting method, the cutting speed is fast, the heat-affected area is small, and plasma cutting is not limited by the reflection characteristics of the material, and can cut highly reflective metal materials; However, the plasma cutting groove is large, the cutting surface is not smooth enough, the cutting accuracy is low, the verticality of the cutting surface is poor and there are many chips, and there will be shortcomings such as harmful gases and arc light.

Laser cutting has the advantages of non-contact, no damage to the surface of the material, high cutting quality, smooth cutting surface and edge, no post-treatment, and a wide range of cutting materials, but the laser cutting speed will decrease with the increase of material thickness, and the cutting cost is also higher.