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Fiber Laser VS CO2 Laser: Cutting Thickness Range

Time：2022-7-20

The cutting range of a laser is dependent on the power source: the higher the power, the thicker the sheet that can be cut. Table below shows the standard cutting range for different laser powers for both fiber and CO2 lasers.

The main difference between the two technologies is cutting aluminium. For the same laser power, the maximum sheet thickness for a CO2 laser is approximately a third less than that for a fiber laser (note, CO2 lasers above 6 kW are rare). It is possible to cut thicker sheets than those stated below, however repeatability and cut quality are significantly reduced.

4kW4kW6kW6kW10kW10kW
ThicknessFiberCO2FiberCO2FiberCO2
Mild Steel mm(O2)2020252525/
Stainless Steel mm(N2)1515252530/
Aluminium mm(N2)1510251530/

If you need to cut thinner materials (< 8 mm), a fiber laser is the ideal choice as they can offer significantly higher cutting speeds than a CO2 laser and excellent cut quality (minimal dross and regular striations on the cut edge).

If you only need to cut thicker materials, a CO2 laser may be a better option due to faster piercing and faster cutting speeds while producing a smoother surface finish.  

However, high-power CO2 laser cutting machine is not as common as fiber lasers, CO2 laser above 6kw is rare, gas cost and maintenance cost of CO2 is much more than fiber laser. As with careful balancing of the cutting parameters (speed, focal position, gas pressure etc.), a good quality cut can be achieved with minimal dross and regular striations on the cut edge with fiber lasers. So fiber laser is much all-sided.

There are many manufactures which hesitate to change to a new fiber laser cutting machine due to cost pressure or other reason. Now Newlaz, provide you an good solution.

Newlaz is a pioneer in retrofit solution of Bystronic and Trumpf, we have upgraded many old CO2 cutting machine to 3-12kw fiber lasers, below is our experimental data of cutting thickness after upgrading.

Fiber Laser VS CO2 Laser: Cutting Thickness Range

And we also provide 24h technic support to help our customer balance parameters to get best cutting efficiency and cutting quality.

If you want, don’t hesitate to contact us, Newlaz is your best choice to revive your old or spare Bystronic & Trumpf CO2 laser cutting machine.

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