In last article, we talk about different maintenance cost between CO2 and fiber laser, and have know maintenance cost of fiber laser is lower than CO2 laser cutting. Today we will continue to check whether the cost of auxiliary gas is also very different.
Auxiliary gas
The smaller spot size and consequent narrow kerf width means that in order to effectively eject the melt from the cut high gas pressures are needed for a fiber laser.
However, careful balancing of the cutting parameters (i.e. cutting speed and focal position) along with the gas pressure and nozzle size, gas consumption can be minimised.
Table below shows the gas pressure and nozzle size used to cut the samples shown above and the cost using a 6 kW fiber and CO2 laser.
| Nozzle (mm) | Nozzle (mm) | Gas Pressure | Gas Pressure | Gas Usage (m³/h) | Gas Usage (m³/h) | Cost(€/h)with continuous cutting | Cost(€/h)with continuous cutting | |
| Material& Thickness | Fiber | CO2 | Fiber | CO2 | Fiber | CO2 | Fiber | CO2 |
| 5mm Stainless Steel | 2.5 | 2.3 | 18 | 12 | 64.79 | 38.21 | €63.1 | €37.21 |
| 10mm Stainless Steel | 3.5 | 2.7 | 17.5 | 22 | 125.87 | 93.11 | €122.59 | €90.69 |
| 15mm Stainless Steel | 5 | 2.7 | 13 | 23 | 194.43 | 97.16 | €189.38 | €94.63 |
| 5mm Mild Steel | 1.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.78 | 0.61 | €0.45 | €0.35 |
| 10mm Mild Steel | 1.5 | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.76 | 1.37 | €1.01 | €0.78 |
| 15mm Mild Steel | 1.5 | 1.4 | 0.55 | 0.6 | 1.95 | 1.75 | €1.12 | €1.01 |
On average a fiber laser will use approximately 40% more nitrogen per hour than a CO2 laser when cutting stainless steel and approximately 20% more oxygen when cutting mild steel.
