Research on Laser Cutting of Pipe

 The laser has three characteristics of good monochromaticity, coherence, and parallelism, so it is particularly suitable for material processing. The traditional domestic pipe cutting methods mainly rely on manual sawing, sawing machine sawing, roller extrusion, grinding wheel cutting, gas welding cutting, etc. These processing methods basically have the disadvantages of low cutting efficiency and high labor intensity of workers, while laser cutting is faster The processing efficiency, good processing effect, and other advantages are widely used in the industrial field.

With the development of science and technology and industry, pipes have been widely used to manufacture parts in aircraft manufacturing, engineering machinery, transportation, petrochemical, agricultural and animal husbandry machinery, and other industrial sectors. In actual production, the pipe has the advantages of low production cost, good processability, lightweight of structural parts, and material saving. Therefore, pipe cutting has a very important position in the industrial field. Due to the different shape, size, and application of the pipe, and the cutting of the pipe is restricted by factors such as processing quality, it is very important to choose reasonable processing equipment, processing methods, and technological measures.

There are many inconveniences in tube cutting, and although domestic traditional cutting methods can also achieve application results, but the processing efficiency is low and the processing effect is poor, so combining tube cutting with laser technology will make the field of tube cutting have a broader development prospect.

Pipe Laser Cutting Machine

Current status and future development of tube laser cutting

Tube laser cutting has many advantages such as narrow cut width, small heat-affected zone, fast cutting speed, good flexibility, clean-cut, and no tool wear. With the emergence and development of CNC laser pipe cutting machines, the development of various processing techniques for spatial freeform surfaces and curves can show its unique side. When laser cutting a pipe, not only does the laser spot move in a certain trajectory relative to the workpiece in three-dimensional space but also requires that during the entire processing process, the laser optical axis is always perpendicular to the processing surface of the pipe to be cut. For a CNC fiber laser cutting head that can perform automatic focusing, its nozzle can automatically track the surface of the workpiece through an automatic measurement and control system. Production practice shows that the key to pipe cutting is to eliminate the cutting quality defects to the greatest extent, so as to meet the processing requirements of the pipe. For the processing of complex pipes, such as perforation, grooving, trimming, or undercutting, laser cutting is not only faster than traditional processing methods but also can greatly guarantee the processing quality.

Overview of pipe laser cutting machine

In the process of processing, first of all, the pipe parts should be cut to obtain the required length of the pipe blank. The traditional domestic pipe cutting methods are difficult to meet the needs of mass production, and the pipe parts processed by these traditional processing methods are generally of poor quality in the cut surface, and some even have processing defects such as deformation and collapse. In addition to cutting pipes, some also require other forms of processing, such as: cutting patterns for decoration and lamps, spiral, sine, cosine cutting, marking, etc. If the traditional processing methods are used for these forms of tube processing, not only the processing efficiency is low, but also it is difficult to meet the ideal processing requirements, and some of them cannot even be processed.

Advantages of tube laser cutting

Using laser to cut pipes (including tangent, oblique cutting, forming cutting, etc.), the width of the cut is generally 0.1-0.3mm, and the cutting position and temperature can be accurately controlled, which is more conducive to the realization of automation and intelligence in production, and the cutting efficiency is relatively high. The traditional processing method can be increased by 8-20 times, the processing cost can be reduced by 70%-90%, and the material loss can be saved by 15%-30%, and the noise of laser cutting is small and the environmental impact is small. Traditional processing methods require multiple continuous processes to complete the processed parts that can be achieved by laser cutting on the same equipment. With the continuous improvement of equipment performance and continuous improvement of processing technology, it is possible to use a laser to perform the high-quality cutting of pipes.

The future development trend of pipe laser cutting machine

Laser cutting uses a non-contact processing method. During the entire processing process, there will be no pressure on the pipe wall, so it will not cause the outer surface of the pipe to deform or collapse. At the same time, when laser cutting pipes, the complexity of the kerf thermal field, difficulty in cooling, and easy blockage of cutting slag make cutting more difficult. Therefore, in-depth research on these aspects should be strengthened.

Pipe Laser Cutting Machine

Laser cutting requires a lot of freedom on the material, shape, size, processing environment, etc. of the tube, and its spatial controllability (change in the direction of the beam, rotation, scanning, etc.) and time controllability (open, close, pulse interval) Excellent, easy to control, and because the laser cutting has high precision and few burrs, it greatly reduces the time consumed for subsequent processing. When changing the diameter or shape of the pipe, you only need to modify the program, so the development of pipe cutting software is of great research value. The combination of laser cutting systems and computer numerical control technology can form efficient automation equipment, opening up a new path for high-quality, efficient, and low-cost processing.

In order to improve the efficiency of tube laser cutting, the most effective production method is to use the automatic tube laser cutting production line. How to use automatic tube cutting production line for laser cutting? Firstly, the focused laser beam must be synchronized with the pipe being cut on the automatic pipe cutting production line; secondly, the focused laser beam must be able to rotate one circle relative to the pipe being cut, and the laser beam axis must always be perpendicular to the pipe axis. Intersect, in the cutting process, the laser beam of the pipe cutting production line moves with the pipe being cut. These synchronous movements must be controlled by a special control system, so the research on the automatic tube laser cutting production line is also of great significance.